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There is a lack of student organization and club meetings on campus this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Through all the chaos, people are still coming together for what they believe in and are still making changes on campus. Prior to COVID-19, there were a lot more activities and club meetings that made Grand View University a lively place. Despite COVID-19, there are still some meetings and activities occurring with safety precautions such as wearing masks and social distancing.  

Dan Hanson, who is the advisor for the Student Ministry team at GV, has kept things going despite the pandemic. Although things are not the same, there are still students involved in student ministries and they continue to host activities.  

“This year we started small group ministry, we have never had that before and that’s been great because we’re trying to avoid anything where large groups of people meet together,” Hanson said.  

Student Ministries still holds chapel on Tuesdays in the Speed Lyceum at 11 am but everything is socially distanced and there is limited singing. They are not able to host events like Dinner Fellowship Worship, or DFW, where students used to come into the Viking House for worship and a free meal because the small space is not conducive to social distancing. 

Maryn Phillips, a GV senior involved with the Student Ministry Team, shared that many changes had to be made regarding how they meet for worship. 

 “We have had to get really creative with what we do,” Phillips said. “We have had to adapt and change, we don’t know where the year is heading.” 

One change Phillips sees as a positive is the new small groups that have led to stronger connections with friends.  

Carrie Sponheim is the advisor for GV United, a student leadership group on campus whose goal is to bridge the gap between GV alumni and current students.  

“In other years we do things like homecoming where we will have things like the homecoming festival and the football game,” Sponheim said. “We will do events off campus, so we will have a happy hour at a brewery, or we will do an art class together or we will bring people to campus for events. We will do it on or off campus just to get alumni together.”  

Anyone that has graduated from GV can attend these events, but due to COVID-19 older alumni would be at a higher risk when attending. GV United is currently not having any in person events on campus, so students are having to adapt to having meetings on Zoom. 

Not being able to meet as often, has presented difficulties for students and changed the campus culture. GV is made up of different organizations with the goal of involving students in extracurricular activities, but in order to keep the risk of infection down, students must compromise. 

For Joanna Estitia, the president of the Diversity Alliance club, COVID-19 has changed how they operate. The Diversity Alliance club would normally host a lot of events to promote diversity, often partnering up with Multicultural Ambassadors. At these events, they would hand out different foods that support different cultures to make everyone feel welcome.  

“I like coming to a safe place, I like going there and talking to people that I can relate too,” Estitia said. “There is a lot of other minorities there, it makes me feel more involved and more part of the school.” 

Clubs and organizations offer a vocation for students where they can find meaning on campus. Students can feel more involved in school and have passion for what they do. With smaller groups meeting, fewer people are going to the activities. A lot of clubs have had to make changes like outside worship, Zoom meetings and off campus events at bigger venues to accommodate social distancing.  Although some clubs may be losing people because of safety concerns, the students that are still involved are pushing through because clubs are what make people feel included and involved.