How Clubs Are Adapting To Covid (cont'd)

Note: This is a continuation of last issue’s article: “How Three New Clubs are Adapting to Covid.”

Even as the school year progresses, some club meetings have just started. This article puts a spotlight on two of them—Debate Club and Science Bowl—and the challenges and experiences they face as they navigate club meetings through Covid. How have they changed from previous years, and how is Covid affecting them now?

To get a closer look, we interviewed two club leaders for their thoughts and experiences.

The following is an interview with Science Bowl captain and junior Shivam Gupta.

Can you give a short description of what Science Bowl is about?

Shivam Gupta: Science Bowl is a fast-paced buzzer competition that tests competitors' abilities to answer challenging questions in the categories of biology, chemistry, math, physics, energy and earth and space science.

In what ways did Covid affect your meetings last year?

SG: The meetings before Covid were in-person, usually Friday after school for 1-2 hours. After going virtual, our meetings shifted online and practices were more frequent. We also started using an online buzzer system software, instead of the physical buzzers we used before. The meetings online were definitely a downgrade from the quality in-person interactions within the team, so this year, we’ve switched back to in-person meetings. There were a lot of changes, but we stayed strong, worked hard, and didn’t let the pandemic faze us.

How did Covid affect Science Bowl competitions?

SG: Covid caused the regional competitions to be online last year and the rules were adjusted to prevent online class competitors from gaining an advantage. Before, teams would compete head-to-head in the same room, but last year teams competed in separate rooms alone and then scores between the teams were compared.

This year, they are hoping that the competition will be in-person, in the same format as before.

Is there anything about the Covid restrictions that you would like to see changed with regards to the club?

SG: No, not really一the club knows the risks of Covid, and everybody on the squad is good at following the safety guidelines to ensure a safe Science Bowl experience.

Science Bowl meetings are on Fridays afterschool until 4:30 in room E277. Contact Shivam Gupta or Ryana Sarcar for more details.

What happens in Debate Club?

James Lian: In Debate Club we help teach people how to debate, which involves public speaking, speech-writing, and being quick on their feet while also having a lot of fun at the same time. We’ll sometimes have practice debates where people will just prepare for a debate topic and debate it against somebody else, or we’ll have learning meetings or work meetings where people will prepare for these debates. There’s also debate competitions that we plan to go to eventually— I think in a couple of months — and we also have special competitions that we’ll go to and hopefully qualify for.

Has Covid affected the club in any way?

JL: I think it certainly has… we’ve definitely been looking at online meetings because, of course, with Covid we’ve been very limited with how often we can meet. In addition, some of the competitions that we plan to go to are going to be online this year, so that’s actually going to help us a lot. Before, we would need to drive two or three hours to go to the competitions, whereas now it is more convenient for us since we can just hop online and be part of the debate without traveling. So in that sense, it’s fairly positive.

In past years, there have been competitions between schools, will they occur this year too?

JL: Yup! We’re definitely going to try to go to some of them, since we’re part of this Capitol Region debate league which has got quite a few dates set for December, January, February, and later. We’re going to try to go to the ones that are virtual and some of the competitions are fairly close to us (like there’s one in Bethlehem and one in Shen), and also depending on how good and how willing debate club members are to participate.

Are there any new plans for the club that are different from past years?

JL: I mean last year we basically didn’t have a debate club at all. I think last year the club president sent out one email and then nothing happened afterwards. So this year, we’re basically starting entirely from scratch. Grace Sun, the other co-president, is our only 11th grader, and then everybody else is either in 9th or 10th grade. So everybody on our team doesn’t have much experience — including me— and so this year we’re all just trying to rebuild Debate Club back up to what it used to be. That way in the future, we might be able to bring people further in these debate competitions.

What can new members look forward to?

JL: I think they can look forward to, well first of all, a lot of fun because we’re going to give them a lot of choice about how they want to debate and their debating style, as well as who they work with in their debates. So I think that they should be able to expect a lot of flexibility in that regard. Also I think that they should see that we’re really going to emphasize learning how to debate. That way, even if people this year don’t feel so confident in their public speaking skills or they may get nervous, or they don’t really have a good grasp of how to organize their evidence or something, I hope that this year we can help them get familiar with it and they can enter next year’s debate club with more experience and knowledge.

Debate Club meetings are every Monday after school, in the afternoons from 3:15 to 4:30 in room F123. Contact James Lian or Grace Sun for more details.