Marshall ChavisDuring a semester where students at N.C. Central do not have many in-person activities or festivities, students have found ways to stay busy and active.
In regards to the cancellation of many in-person fall activities, some students have decided not to go back to campus with expectations of having certain activities to do.
Clifton Jeffries IV, a senior physical education major, relies on his position on the football team’s equipment staff to keep himself busy because of the cancellation of fall sports.
Jeffries added specific jobs to stay busy this semester such as sorting out gear, rearranging loopholes that help the players wear the gear after laundry, and making sure the footballs are pumped up for practice.
Within Jeffries’ role, he helps to keep the team’s equipment in good condition as the team prepares for their spring season He is also preparing himself for a coaching internship in the spring.
“I think for me I understand the situation at hand so I understand that I had kinda expected it to come back,” Jeffries said. “There wasn’t much that was gonna happen.”
Jeffries added that he misses the live-action of the football games for this semester.
In July, the Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference canceled its fall sports as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
In the same month, N.C. Central canceled its homecoming festivities. Students would not be able to have the annual homecoming game along with game day festivities.
The impacts of the pandemic also hindered some of the goals many N.C. Central students had for their on-campus experience.
“Last fall, I came into this point within myself where I need to get more social cause once people know me, they’ll like me,” said junior psychology major De’la Davis.
According to Davis, the pandemic halted many of her plans to join clubs and become more social.
The cancellation of many in-person fall activities has impacted students in the social aspect. For Davis, this means trying to find a new way to be social.
HBCUs are considered a great place for socializing. For many N.C. Central students, they are missing a key factor of their HBCU experience as a result of the social distancing precautions and cancellation of many in-person programs.
As for underclassman, many students found their first or second year in college to be an experience that is not the typical HBCU experience.
“I don’t really get the full college experience like I did my first year,” said Kevon Burnett, a sophomore biology major.
To keep himself busy in the midst of COVID-19, Burnett added that he catches up on homework, plays games on his gaming system, or connects with his friends and helps them study.
Just like many students and student organizations, N.C. Central’s Student Activities Board is constantly seeking new ways to stay busy and engaged with students while continuing to adhere to social distancing precautions.
“We still have stuff in the works and some things are still not 100 percent concrete, but I would say we are still trying to incorporate some in-person events,” said Deessence Cox, primary advisor of the Student Activities Board. “Of course it’s not gonna be how it was in the past, but events that we can still practice social distancing.”
