P.A. Programmers Lindy Palella and Bethany Weidman had created and planned the Survivor Games event on March 31st at 6:30-8:30pm. At Survivor Games, Freshmen and transfers would have played at five different stations across campus with their Core and P.A at the event. The event was announced postponed a day before, March 30th.
Palella said their jobs as programmers are to plan big events for freshman and transfers and provide time for P.A’s to bond with their Core without planning something themselves.
“We are not as public, so people don’t usually know what we do or who we are. Those events don’t magically appear as I thought they did Freshman year,” said Palella.
Palella and Weidman’s five stations would have been:
- An easter egg hunt with a puzzle
- Telerade (a mixture between charades and telephone)
- A First to Laugh Loses competition dad jokes edition
- A picture challenge
- A trivia challenge
The event was announced postponed when Spring Arbor Announcement sent out an email on March 30th. The email explained the spike Covid cases: 30 positive cases and 125 students in quarantine or isolation. They suspended all campus student activities ill April 12th.
“It is always disappointing when an event is moved but Beth and I are super excited that the event will still go on, just a few weeks after the normal date, ” said Palella.
The programmers were already taking Covid into account with their event. Palella said she and Weidman had a binder full of events that other programmers used in the past but had to throw it out because of Covid. They got creative to find safe events, while avoiding Zoom. They believed students were tired of Zoom because of online classes. They had been thankful that the Freshman class was small enough to meet In-Person regulations before the suspension was announced.
“Our games were chosen specifically because they can be Covid regulated,” Palella said. “Social distancing is definitely a factor in making sure we don’t have large amounts of people in one area.”
Palella and Weidman were already considering postponing the event till April. Some P.A’s would have missed the event if it was on March 31st due to being in quarantine and others being away for sport games.
By: Sarah Williams
