As school nears the end of its first nine-week segment, school is lowly inching towards opening up. Sports like volleyball and football are beginning to have tryouts and practices, and game procedures are already in the works. But sports aside, how could clubs, theatre, and other extracurriculars start back up? Would students even want to go back, if they were an option?

As per the CDC’s COVID-19 guidelines, the safest thing (aside from virtual gatherings) are small, outdoor gatherings where people are socially distanced, wearing masks, and not sharing items. For after-school clubs, it would be ideal to hold them outside, in places like the bus canopy or on the track, doing activities that don’t require people to get particularly close or sharing items. That rules out many clubs, most of which involve passing items like game pieces or books. However, many extracurricular options could be adapted to fit in the CDC’s second risk section, by spacing out chairs and creating new activities that don’t center around physical objects.

While volleyball has been able to hold practices by avoiding drills that involve contact, limiting use of the locker rooms, enforcing wearing masks, and bringing your own water, many students who don’t participate in sports wonder what clubs could return, and if they did return what the turnout would be.

In speaking with a few students and a teacher, it’s easy to get a feel as to what this coming year could look like, in terms of the after-school landscape. Tanvi Reddy, an eighth grader at Canyon Vista, had a few thoughts.

“Right now, I would probably not go to clubs or other events indoors or outdoors,” Reddy said. “In the spring, I would definitely go if there were masks and [social] distancing.” Many students share Reddy’s views. Being at school for recreational activities like D&D Club or French Club often seems dangerous, risky, and unnecessary. Because of this, they would prefer to wait for the guidelines and precautions surrounding in-person gatherings to loosen, and for the risk factor to drop significantly lower than the necessity of clubs.

Another Canyon Vista student, Connor Wormington (8), had a different outlook.

“I feel that going to clubs would be comfortable for me depending on the situation,” Wormington said. “I would feel more comfortable going to outdoor activities because I can social distance better, but I think I would be comfortable with an interior meeting if there were masks, and enough room to socially distance.”

But it’s not just up to students. Teachers in the end, have the final word about what gets to happen and when. Theatre is an elective that relies extremely heavily on extracurriculars to run shows, rehearsals, and meetings.

“As it stands right now, I’m mostly comfortable conducting after school rehearsals,” Jacob Vigil, the Honors, MS1, and MS3 Theatre teacher at Canyon Vista, said. “It becomes uncomfortable for me when I think that I’m making someone else uncomfortable … theatre should always be a safe place; both physically, mentally, and emotionally.

“…The team here at CVMS is troubleshooting ideas for setting up a performance that is not only showcasing our talented students but proving that we as educators are willing to do whatever it takes to show how brightly our star students shine; every single one.”