Among the many in-person events that made a comeback at USF St. Petersburg this year was the Week of Welcome which included dozens of tables showcasing clubs and organizations on campus.
Courtesy of USF
By Sophia George
Reaching the two-year mark since COVID-19’s era of lockdown and online classes, the social fabric of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg has made a strong recovery.
Since last summer, the campus has seen a surge in engagement due to the return of residential students, in-person events and classes. Student organizations like the Harborside Activities Board (HAB) and COMPASS peer coaches have been a guiding force in strengthening campus culture.
Joshua Rampertab, junior criminology major, lieutenant governor-elect and president of HAB at USF St. Petersburg, leads many of the on-campus events and is optimistic about the rise in engagement this year.
“During COVID-19, we only had about 15 people showing up to our events since it was all online. HAB hosted the first in-person event since we came back in-person last summer and we had about 100 people show up. It was cool to see,” Rampertab said.
Rampertab, who has been a member of HAB since 2020, highlighted the differences in student enthusiasm and involvement before the pandemic and after lockdown.
“I feel like we are getting back to those pre-COVID-19 engagement numbers,” Rampertab said.
Rampertab believes numbers particularly rose in the fall semester with many first-time and transfer students looking to engage and meet new people on campus.
“Engagement definitely increased in the fall. More students started going to events, I went to a lot of them as well. I think engagement spiked a lot because people were bored of online classes and events,” Rampertab said.
In terms of the current semester, Rampertab says that despite being more easygoing, he does expect high engagement in HAB’s upcoming events.
“The spring semester is more laid back, but we do have events coming up, like USF Week which is similar to Homecoming Week. USF Week brings a lot of engagement –– we do big events like laser tag, and we give away a lot of free T-shirts, which always attracts students.”
Other USF St. Petersburg students made similar remarks about on-campus engagement this year, such as Ashlee Torres, an English major and first-year peer coach with COMPASS.
“When I started, it was a ghost town on campus, everything was online. I’m really happy to see the liveliness back on campus and things actually going on again,” Torres said.
Torres told The Crow’s Nest that during the pandemic, peer coaches had to reach out to students virtually –– whether that be through email, texting or Microsoft Teams.
Clubs and organizations have been able to slowly shift back to in-person engagement, including setting up tables outside of the University Student Center.
“Now we can set up tables again, so we get to talk to students in-person and find out about their interests at USF. I’m glad that this is back on campus because we can draw people towards us and see the curiosity on their faces,” Torres said.
Torres predicts this is just the beginning of the increase in on-campus, face-to-face involvement, citing the fall semester as a favorable time for more student engagement.
“I think and I hope that the upcoming fall semester will bring even more engagement. This is the time when we get first-time and transfer students, so there’s a lot of intrigue and engagement as they navigate their new campus.”
