In March 2020, unlucky Friday the 13th lived up to its reputation when the overhead speakers at Evergreen High School announced cancelations to upcoming athletic events and an extended Spring Break due to a mysterious illness spreading throughout the country.
Soon-to-be valedictorian Carson Poupore sat in English class during the announcement, which caused the classroom to go “haywire.” Poupore was oblivious to what was to come due to the unprecedented outbreak. The following August, he enrolled in OU to experience an “unforgettable” freshman year with virtual learning, socially distanced classrooms and masked faces.
The class of 2024’s first year of college included online learning and limited in-person events. The pandemic forced virtual settings and different approaches to promote engagement for various student organizations and events — like Camp Crimson, Oklahoma Votes and Campus Activities Council.
Camp Crimson
The traditional in-person, three-day Camp Crimson was converted to a free, virtual orientation through Canvas for incoming freshmen — the first virtual Camp Crimson in 20 years.
Campers were given access to themed modules from June 22 to Aug. 7 with topics including academics, involvement and how to succeed at OU.
Public relations and sociology junior Caroline Sparks served as an orientation guide for Camp Crimson in 2020. She said the virtual camp setting caused a lower participation rate than the typical Camp Crimson, forcing them to seek methods to increase participation and socialization.
“We had to find ways to bond with students virtually, which is really difficult,” Sparks said. “Camp is our premier orientation program — it’s the first experience students have at the University of Oklahoma.”
The camp held virtual camp-wide events and smaller-scale “family meetings” consisting of three orientation guides and a group of campers in an attempt to make up for the “high energy” Camp Crimson normally conveys, Sparks said.
Despite an unprecedented Camp Crimson format, Sparks said she thinks the camp organizers and volunteers did the best they could.
“At least we did something,” Sparks said. “I think that we could have canceled camp, and they wouldn’t have had any sort of experience, but at least they were offered some sort of welcome to our university.”
Carson Poupore
Economics and political science freshman Carson Poupore became the OU Student Government Association’s university college representative and local government liaison in his first year at OU despite a unique freshman experience.
Joining SGA as a freshman was already a “daunting task,” Poupore said. The pandemic created further challenges through forced interactions in an online environment.
“Overall, people have really adapted to the environment, and I think everyone is ready to go back in person,” Poupore. “There were some challenges that we did not see coming, and we adapted. I’m very happy with the results.”
To overcome the unforeseen challenges, Poupore said he learned how to persevere.
“Going through this as a freshman has taught me a lot as a person,” Poupore said. “It has taught me how to persevere, (and) it taught me how to not necessarily get everything that you want and adapt to the conditions around you.”
Poupore said coming to campus during the fall looked completely different than the OU campus he toured in high school with safety measures like a university-wide masking policy, socially distanced campus facilities and 300 single-occupancy rooms within campus housing to decrease dorm density. Poupore said he fell in love with OU and the lessons he learned during the pandemic have taught him, despite the differences.
Poupore said when normalcy is restored, he looks forward to seeing people in person, concerts and visiting his grandparents.
“We have learned so much about ourselves, and at the end of the day, I’m not going to forget my freshman year, and I’m not going to forget my senior year of high school,” Poupore said. “It’s unforgettable. I’ve learned a lot about myself.”
Poupore said motivation, hard work and a positive attitude were his driving forces through his freshman year.
“If you wake up in the morning with a smile on your face and the attitude that you can accomplish anything you can do anything you want,” Poupore said. “My secret to success is attacking it with a strong work ethic and taking one day at a time.”
Oklahoma Votes
Oklahoma Votes is a student-led nonpartisan organization dedicated to register, educate and mobilize OU students and community members, according to the Oklahoma Votes website. The typical operation of the organization was “radically different” during the 2020 presidential election, said Kamryn Yanchick, an Oklahoma Votes Civic Engagement Fellow and political science and Native American studies junior.
A student registers to vote in the South Oval on Sept. 22.
Yanchick said the organization had to limit their typical in-person voter registration booths and utilize online platforms to encourage voter registration. Oklahoma Votes utilized a partnership with TurboVote — a tool designed to help voters cast their ballots through keeping track of voter registration, absentee and vote-by-mail rules in each state, according to its website.
“Because Oklahoma does not allow online voter registration, TurboVotes bridges that gap to allow you to still use online resources to register to vote,” Yanchick said.
Oklahoma Votes also added a Canvas module with information on voter registration and voter resources for professors to add to their Canvas pages, Yanchick said. The organization also gave presentations in virtual and in-person classes and held virtual debate watch parties to increase voter registration.
“I think some of our programming was a little bit more successful because students, professors and our panelist count just either tune in or help run our events from their own homes,” Yanchick said.
Yanchick said Oklahoma Votes reached 1,200 potential voters this year — 1,045 of them signed up through TurboVote, and 155 registered to vote through the organization’s limited tabling efforts.
Yanchick said Oklahoma Votes pursued their efforts to increase voter registration and awareness, despite the pandemic, due to the importance of voting.
“We tried to find any way to have an impact,” Yanchick said. “Getting people registered, getting people informed in any way that we could while still being safe, even if it was a lot different than what our previous years looked like.”
Campus Activities Council
Campus Activities Council programs are inclusive, campus-wide events that serve all students, according to the their website. Typically, these events are in-person with big crowds, CAC public relations coordinator and international business and marketing junior Kobe Chen said. This year, through downsized in-person events and events held via Zoom.
Chen said a virtual platform made CAC events more accessible. He cited the accessibility watchers and potential speakers were given as the CAC Speaker’s Bureau hosted various speakers.
This year, the CAC Speaker’s Bureau hosted speakers like the vlog group and YouTube personalities Yes Theory and the first-ever Black Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay.
“I think we’ve definitely learned a lot because of COVID-19 this year,” Chen said. “We learned of things we could still do in a regular year that would be really helpful.”
CAC faced a decrease in applicants during the pandemic, Chen said.
“In the fall, numbers went down a little bit, which was expected,” Chen said. “But, I feel we still made a big push this year. CAC did a really good job … with less people. Hopefully, next year, the numbers will go up.”
Chen said he is glad CAC faced a year of unprecedented events due to the lessons the organizations learned from it. He said he is looking forward to “more opportunity” once the pandemic subsides.
“We probably would have never used Zoom,” Chen said. “I think Zoom is a pretty useful tool, and definitely in the future, we’ll still continue to use it. Things were really up in the air last year, and I don’t want our event chairs to have to go through that again.”
Ryan Barnett
International studies freshman Ryan Barnett said he found himself and a “welcoming environment” at OU despite feeling “burnt out” by the beginning of the fall semester from the pandemic.
“Coming off of a senior year (in high school) where I was doing everything and being involved and being really productive with my time then being thrown into a pandemic and not starting things off on the right food, it’s been a unique transition, to say the least,” Barnett said. “However, coming to OU, we have such a unique community, and I’ve been lucky enough to find myself and good people to surround myself by.”
Barnett said he joined the CAC Speaker’s Bureau welcomed by an “inviting and warm environment” where “everybody feels heard.”
“Out of all the interviews I had, out of all the things I was applying to, they were the only ones that went out of their way to ask how your day was,” Barnett said. “They made sure that not only were they prioritizing and making sure that they got the best applicants, but (also) finding people and building a culture and an environment where everybody felt part of the team.”
Barnett said if his freshman year hadn’t been inhibited by the pandemic, he would have explored more of campus and make more relationships.
“If I was to do one thing differently, it would be to make more relationships sooner with the people that I’ve been able to meet on campus and the connections that I’ve been able to make through either myself (by) going out there and finding people or being introduced to somebody,” Barnett said. “It's been a wonderful opportunity to find similar people that are like-minded … and want to make a difference.
