The new online environment has forced student clubs to be more creative than ever before

Sahil Mayenkar, a senior computer engineering major and president of the XR Club, introduces new members to the start of their virtual club meetings. (XR Club/Youtube)

In a typical school year, clubs and organizations have the opportunity to advertise themselves at the First Look Fair on Mckeldin Mall. Due to this year’s online environment, those same clubs have been forced to readapt. 

In preparation for the online environment, the Student Organization Resource Center (SORC) held training events on how to prepare for the virtual First Look Fair and how to use Terplink, a UMD website featuring different clubs, organizations, and events being hosted.

Some organizations, like the AfroChique dance team, have focused less on recruitment due to the shift from being in-person to online. Nanatte Boateng, a junior criminology and criminal justice major, and head of public relations for AfroChique, said that they had to cancel tryouts for this semester. 

Boateng said that they made a video to “welcome all the new freshmen and all the new students on board to the school year.”

However, other organizations have benefitted from the virtual environment. One organization is the XR Club, which specializes in learning about XR technology such as augmented, virtual, and mixed realities. 

Sahil Mayenkar, a senior computer engineering major, and president of the XR Club, said that recruiting was a focus this year. They took advantage of not only UMD’s virtual First Look Fair, but also the computer science department and engineering department’s fairs as well. Yet, Mayenkar did feel that the fairs “were not quite the same experience.”

In a typical year, the XR club would show virtual reality equipment used in the club. But due to the online environment, that was not possible.

Stone Heyman, a junior information systems and operation management double major, and president of the Maryland Filmmakers, felt that there were less students interested in joining clubs this year. However, the Maryland Filmmakers did want to focus more on keeping new members engaged.

In a typical year, Heyman said, “we start at the beginning of the semester, have a couple meetings, and then we just make films. So with this semester, we’ve had to rework how the club’s functioning.”

He goes on to say that they’ve been having a lot of Zoom meetings, creating tutorials on how to produce films, and brainstorming different ways to help members stay engaged this semester. 

But at the same time, Heyman wants them to “stay true to how the club functions as a whole.”

According to Boateng, AfroChique has similar goals to the Maryland Filmmakers. 

She said that a big concern was to “come up with something new that other people have not done” and wondered “how can we do it in a way that would grasp the attention of people?”

The dance team decided to do a virtual masterclass on Zoom that would allow for them to be interactive with their members.

“We implemented breakout rooms so one person in the team could be in each breakout room and they could learn choreo over zoom,” Boateng said.

Mayenkar pointed out that the XR Club also had to restructure the club for being online. 

They created a Discord channel to communicate because it allowed members  to “get together, hang out there, and ask questions about things that they’re working on.”

Mayenkar added that one thing he’s enjoyed is that the virtual environment allows for more guest speakers. 

With Zoom, “you can have people join in from anywhere. That kind of expands our backyard to the entire world so we can reach out to any professional,” he said.