New students attend scaled back Safari due to COVID-19
New students participate in Expedition Safari Aug. 14 in Anspach Hall.
In the past, memories of Leadership Safari may have included trust falls, comedy shows, Playfair and group bonding. Not this year.
Due to campus guidelines for the Fall 2020 semester, the traditional five-day Leadership Safari was cut down to a one-day event -- Expedition Safari. Students were social distanced and had to wear masks.
Assistant Director of the Leadership Institute Jonathan Glenn said restructuring the conference took months of preparation . Many volunteer staff members resigned from their positions. Even more expressed concerns.
Glenn said it was devastating.
“I’m a man of my word, and I made over 300 people promises last year about what 2020 would look like,” he said. “I was not able to keep those promises, and that’s the hardest part for me.”
Leadership Institute Staff Assistant Taylor Thompson said the seven-hour event is an entirely different conference than last year.
"We kept a couple things from the past, but we tried to shape this Expedition Safari around our current circumstances," Taylor said. "We of course had to take in COVID protocols, such as 10 people to a group."
Three Expedition Safari sessions ran from 2-7 p.m. Aug. 14-16. Each day is required to have 600 or fewer participants to ensure safety and adhere to CMU's health and safety guidelines.
Glenn said he isn't sure true relationships can be built in a day. However, he believes the "seeds can be planted."
"The usual Safari set up of four to five days, would give you the opportunity to feel comfortable, speak your mind, get close to your guide," Glenn said. "Then by the end of the five days you have some connection to CMU and Safari as a whole. We’re hoping that happens this year, but there is no guarantee it happens in the one day."
Stanton freshman Aana Thompson took part in programs but said she knows people canceled their safari experience after finding out the event was cut down to one day.
A new program introduced at Expedition Safari was"Our World Today" which centered around students' own identity as well as the identities of others.
"The biggest goal for this Safari was to make sure our students had a place during these rough times," Taylor said. "Not only with the pandemic, but Black Lives Matter, all of these things going on that are also causing all of these stressors for our students, so truly our curriculum was designed around that."
West Phalia freshman Emma Thelen said there were important discussions within her group that helped her analyze her core values.
"If you don’t know what you believe in and what you hold true to yourself then you don’t have anything to guide your future decisions," Thelen said.
Not everything changed at Expedition Safari. Groups were still labeled by animals and colors like every year.
The program also gave some participants their first in-person tour of CMU making it an experience unlike students from other years.
“Every person will have a different college experience, everyone has different challenges and I guess this is ours,” Thelen said. "I think it will help us grow more into better people."
