Written by Alice Shen (Medicine, Class of 2023) and Arshia Kakkar (Medicine, Class of 2024)
Alice's (Med 2) Perspective
Looking back to all that has happened in the first year of medical school, I am scarcely able to believe in the reality of my adventures: a day at La Ronde during Frosh, painting a mural under 2 days at Medgames… the list goes on. One of these set the foundation for my interpersonal development and friendships — Clubs’ Day, which traditionally had been a one-day event where a galore of student clubs and initiatives tabled next to one another in the Bellini Building while swarms of medical students would come and go, rapaciously grasping for information about the various groups to get involved in.
It was messy and loud but overall fun, interactive and colourful.
This year, given the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person activities have been strictly prohibited during the start of the school year. This had led to a newly adapted edition of Clubs’ Day which took the form of a week-long virtual event on a specially-made Clubs’ Day website.
The Medical Students’ Society (MSS) Club Week 2020 officially launched on Friday, August 28th and ended on Saturday, September 5th. Prior to the launch, each participating student club or initiative was asked to send in an introduction of their group and a video, which aimed to not only engage and inform the students who visit the website, but also to somewhat compensate for the inevitable lack of interaction. Students’ participation in this event was encouraged by advertisements on Facebook groups and the Murmur, the weekly medical student-run newsletter.
By having individual web pages for each club, it was now possible for student groups to showcase their unique identity and creativity. It was impressive to see how different clubs exhibited fantastic skills in video editing and graphics design in the way they presented themselves. However, this also created a varying degree of quality. The biggest, albeit inevitable, short-coming of having an online format for Club Week was the lack of interaction as it was virtually impossible for the students to have real-time engaging conversations with the club executives and ask questions. That being said, with the time constraints and university restrictions taken into consideration, this year’s Club Week was certainly successful.
Arshia's (Med 1) Perspective
Starting medical school and being immersed in its challenging routine can definitely take a toll on new students, especially when forced to sit through 7 hours of Zoom everyday without an effective way to de-stress. Though a Wellness lecture was imposed to reinforce self-care strategies, most students continue to harbour a sense ...........................................................................................................of disconnection from their peers.
Clubs’ Week is no doubt an opportunity that allows a multitude of keen learners to take action and participate in new experiences in a relaxed, social environment. However, as a Med-1, I felt that this experience, which normally sparks joy in many medical students’ lives as I have been told, was hindered due to the pandemic. This ...............................................................sentiment was shared amongst many of my classmates.
Upon the flood of posts on Facebook regarding Clubs and Recruitment Week, many students felt bombarded with information. Notifications concerning committees, projects and further involvement in activities, all came avalanching down a mountain of pre-existing anxiety from online classes. Yet, upon arrival at the MSS website, those who were simply curious coming into Club’s week described a peak in their interest, mainly due to the evident dedication and effort in the quality of the videos. “Laid-back” and “creative” are just some of the numerous qualities first-year students .....................................................enumerated when describing the content of the recordings.
Though there was a plethora of positive feedback concerning Club’s Week, many students did have some issues regarding the complexity in applying for executive positions. The MSS website did not contain much clarifications regarding the recruitment process, and due to the lack of interpersonal relationships between upper- and lower-year students, some expressed uneasiness in reaching out for additional information. However, the current MSS VP Internal's, Jeffrey Sioufi, .consistent endeavours in involving first-years in the MSS made up for this small flaw.
In an interview, he shared with us that, “[the Club Week] was a large time commitment on my part, but I think [Club Week] went pretty well. [The virtual format] did a good job of making it more accessible and also easier for everyone to participate in than Club Day was”. Acknowledging that the interaction aspect would be lacking from this year’s Club Week, Sioufi adds that the next VP Internal could use this year’s example to help make future improvements.
Despite everything, according to the website analytics, there was, on average, over a 100 unique visitors per day (highest engagements on day one with 180 unique visitors). From the results that we collected in a student survey, which was filled out primarily by med1s and med2s, 84% of the students had visited the Club Week website and watched the videos posted by clubs; and the majority of the participants expressed having a positive experience overall. 77% of the students would have preferred the Club Week to be in-person, but one comment that stood out stated that: “[it would be] great to have [the Club Week website] even if it was in person for those who would not have been able to make it”.
The event was not perfect, and perhaps even a little bit confusing given that the Club Week was advertised as a separate entity from the main MSS website. Also, unlike how things worked in the past, the Club Week did not happen simultaneously as the club recruitment period, which may have contributed to the confusion since the website lacked clarity on how students could get further involved.
Medical school is hard. This seems like a subjective statement but it is truthfully a fact that many students have come to learn during their time here. It requires laborious hours of studying, self-doubt, existentialism, cries of frustration, and even more existentialism. Yet, the best way to come to love this absurdly fantastic journey is to practice self-care by enjoying activities that are worthwhile. Joining a club offers a variety of ways to interact with others, and this is especially relevant during these uncertain times. So, take a break from those Anki cards and try to find further ways to get involved!
