The newly formed Student Activities Cabinet plans to have a year packed with a variety of experiences for Asbury students.
Last year, Student Development made the decision to allow student activities to become its own entity. Now, the cabinet can plan events with greater efficiency, though COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines present a challenge.
“As far as different precautions because of COVID-19, the biggest thing is that we need to continue to follow social distancing guidelines,” junior Student Activities team member Joel Pletcher said. “We follow mainly Kentucky mandates, and we’re trying to follow the school’s rules as well, just to keep everyone safe. That’s the goal.”
The board’s biggest issue when planning events is food safety and making sure that food comes from a direct source.
“All students love food, so that presents the challenge of how we get food out to students in a safe and enjoyable way while keeping them safe,” Pletcher said. “That basically has led us to look for the most efficient ways to offer individual food options. So, if it’s popsicles, those are individually wrapped, and we can do that. If it’s a taco truck like we had at the Welcome Back Bash, we had to make sure the tacos were available to be handed directly to the students.”
The board’s ultimate goal is to help students feel a sense of belonging at Asbury.
“We know that the very first few weeks of school are when belonging is established among students,” Pletcher said. “We hope that if we have these activities that promote belonging it tells students this is where you belong, it’s fun to be here and we’re together.”
Last Friday, students had the opportunity to watch “The Parent Trap” on Reasoner Green and participate in a canoe trip on Saturday.
“Canoeing was such an awesome activity,” freshman Rachel Law said. “While I had been hesitant about signing up, I’m really glad I did. It was such a scenic route and everyone was so fun to be around.”
The socially distanced measures left a positive impression on students.
“I was really impressed with how well everyone was social distancing,” Law said. “While we were pretty spread out on the canoes, we were all in the same spot for lunch. As soon as everyone got off the boats, it was almost an instinctive reaction to spread six feet apart.”
The cabinet encourages students to get involved and participate.
