As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on and classes remain mostly virtual, students at Bucks are looking for things to keep them occupied. Luckily for them, there is a club on the comeback that may interest the film geeks of the student body.
Sydney Brooks, a cinema/video production major in her second year at Bucks has revived the “Keeping It Reel” club to keep students connected during the semesters at home. Brooks shared the story behind her decision to bring back the club after a period of its inactivity and what the club aims to achieve amidst the chaos of COVID-19.
“I hadn’t joined any clubs in my first year at Bucks because of how busy I was. I also don’t have my license yet so I couldn’t go back and forth to campus whenever I wanted, so that made it more difficult. With everything being online this semester, I thought it would be a good idea to get more involved,” said Brooks.
“My major is cinema/video production, so joining a movie club was at the very top of my list. When I looked, I saw one called ‘Keeping It Reel’ and I requested to join. I didn’t see any other information about what the club was doing currently so I sent an email to the club advisor, Sarah Jakub. Sarah led me to Carol Brandt who explained to me that the club wasn’t active this year since the students before must’ve graduated or moved on. She said if I was really interested, I could take it over,” said Brooks.
Brooks also shared her initial hesitation to taking over the club.
“I wasn’t too sure about it at first because I’m naturally a very shy person but Carol and Sarah were so helpful at leading me through the process of updating the club constitution and coming up with ideas for Zoom meetings.”
When asked about the general club activities, Brooks said, “We currently meet every other week and usually try to stick to a certain theme or genre. I don’t require that everyone watches the same film because it can be hard to do that with us all being at home. It’s really just a fun way to socialize and talk about movies, even if we’re all coming from different majors. It’s great to hear everyone’s opinions as well as getting some good recommendations. I’ve been talking to our members about possibly continuing to meet over the winter break since it’s so easy to join a Zoom call.”
Zoom has not only been making classes at Bucks possible, but now clubs are able to meet and connect with other students despite the very obvious setback posed by the pandemic. Students are still able to interact with one another and make the most of their college experience with technology given the circumstances.
If you are a student who enjoys film studies, critiquing, or just simply enjoy watching movies, “Keeping It Reel” may just be the club for you. For more information on the club, contact Sydney Brooks at [email protected].