For some clubs at Sandburg, it’s like the COVID-19 pandemic never happened. For the Robotics Team, it’s full speed ahead. Robotics member Layna Oberg said “During the pandemic, we had only Saturday’s to work on actually building the robot, and during the week we’d work on the CAD and planning. It was hard to do it online. But now it’s like before COVID and we’re all really close.” 

However, others have decided to take their clubs in a new direction instead of keeping the old methods. One of those is Debate, which has grown considerably after the pandemic. In her interview, current Varsity Debater Kaela Calderon said that during the pandemic “debate just couldn’t fit into my life as much as it did before. I really didn’t do as much research and I didn’t go to as many tournaments, if I did it was to judge.” She notes that “It’s more laid back now. Before it was all about structure.” 

Fellow Varsity Debater Issy Saucedo said “The lack of time spent with the team made my Freshman year a little less fun than my Sophomore year, which was in person. After Covid, we became like a super close, tight knit community that wouldn’t have been like that if we were still online only.” 

For members of the Scholastic Bowl team, the feeling is similar. As Senior Scholastic Bowl member Waverly O’Malley said “before the pandemic we could go to places after tournaments and hang out as a team without having to worry about how many people would be there or whether we would spread diseases. We were more of a team. Covid kind of just undid all of that.” 

Safiya Otry, another member of the Sandburg Scholastic Bowl team agreed, saying “One thing about Scholastic Bowl is that when you’re working together with your team, you get more motivated to do your part and when you’re doing that remotely, you kind of just lose that togetherness that plays a major role.”

When asked what the new environment is like, Ms. Otry stated that “We’re taking stuff that we learned before Covid, and applying it to the stuff that we missed during the pandemic. It’s a new, really fun experience, and we’ve generated a lot of new programs and ideas.”