LINDA PUGA
campus editor

Three weeks into the fall semester and the Student Activities team at each campus has been hard at work creating an inclusive and remote environment for students to connect in our new normal.

Eddie Brassart, TR assistant director of Student Development Services, sees the process to an online setting as a refreshing experience.

“It forces you to think outside of the box and be creative,” Brassart said.

Brassart said student activities have been seeking ideas to bring engagement to life this semester. With that comes refining on-campus programs for something that can work online.

“The most challenging part has been figuring out how to get information about co-curricular programs and activities in front of students,” Brassart said.

As far as the future of TCC, Brassart said the online programming will continue and will be blended with in-person activities.

“Student Activities is here to provide opportunities to supplement the learning taking place in the classroom so however a student is comfortable engaging, we want to be able to offer that.”

South student Alfredo Ornelas is involved through his campus and continues to engage in volunteer opportunities. He serves as treasurer for his Phi Theta Kappa chapter and
is a member of the Food Pantry and Cornerstone Honors Program.

Ornelas believes that Phi Theta Kappa has done well with having online events.

“We have weekly meetings as officers and also have our meetings with members,” Ornelas said. “We also do online conferences, like regionals.”

He and the members of the Cornerstone program meet once a month on Zoom where they catch up on the things happening in their lives as students.

How programs operate has shifted while still maintaining those same events in an online space, NW coordinator of student activities Rachael McCloskey said.

“If anything, the online environment is allowing students more flexibility to attend programs they might have otherwise missed,” McCloskey said.

McCloskey said students should join organizations to stay engaged. To keep students in the loop about events and programs, the campus uses emails and an assortment of pages within the TCC homepage.

McCloskey loves the students’ ability to watch replays of events on demand.

“I love that we can save our events,” McCloskey said. “I’d like to be able to do that in the future.”