Since the 2020-2021 school year has started, several changes have been made to Menlo’s community engagement program. Not only have credit requirements changed from last year, but the ways in which students participate in community engagement have also drastically shifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures.

After campus closed last year, the community engagement requirements were adjusted, with students only required to complete seven credits — as opposed to the normal 10 credits — across three different engagement opportunities. According to Director of Community Engagement Chris Young, COVID-19 made participating in service hard for students; most activities had previously been in-person. “Last year, it was such a shock and a scramble,” Young said. “I think it took time for organizations to come up with ways for people to engage that were safe or virtual.”

However, community engagement programs have since had time to reorganize, and there are now many ways for students to fulfill their credits. “[There are] a lot of organizations that have figured out how to do their [activities] virtually, [and] there’s actually a lot of ways to be involved,” Young said. “I would even say that there might be more [community engagement] opportunities.” Some new activities listed for credit include attending marches, beach-cleanups or the Menlo media series, which are school-selected documentaries that discuss current events.

Another way for students to dive deeper into community service is through Knight Vision, Menlo’s community engagement club. According to its website, Knight Vision’s mission is to provide students with the opportunity to discover fulfilling service experiences while serving Menlo’s local and broader communities. Knight Vision currently has several projects underway, including a GoFundMe and care packages for fire relief, according to Knight Vision Secretary and Treasurer Reena Kagan.

Since the start of the school year, Knight Vision has seen a large increase in participation, indicating that the pandemic may have made community service more accessible and convenient for students. “Now that school has started, we actually have a much larger following than we did before,” Kagan said. “I think that’s because coming to a club meeting during lunch is easier now since students can just jump onto a Zoom call.”

A second community service event that saw a great increase in turnout was the Peninsula Bridge Virtual Fun Run. “Last year, we had 603 [runners] registered. This year, we had 1,152,” Fun Run organizer and Menlo parent Page Curtin said in an email to The Coat of Arms. The increase in participation was likely due to the run’s new virtual format. “Both participation and dollars raised were double from last year and it was clear that participants had a lot of fun, as evidenced by creative social media posts,” Curtin said.

In addition to increased community engagement participation, COVID-19 has also played a role in highlighting major issues that had not been as recognized before, such as wealth disparity and the shortcomings of our healthcare system. “I think [the pandemic] brought a lot of different issues to people’s attention,” Kagan said. “Now we have the time to think about these issues more in-depth and actually try and do something about [them].”

In a period where many members of various communities are struggling, Young believes it is especially important to participate in community engagement. “COVID-19 has pushed social issues to the forefront for a lot of people,” Young said. “I think it makes people realize how media engagement, activism or just getting out into the world is especially important right now.”