American River College has yet to fully open up the campus for in-person learning. Still, significant strides have been made and it appears the fall 2022 semester will be more like the school experience before 2020.

If the plan of re-opening the campus is to come to fruition, then the school should find ways to appeal to the students’ interests around campus. ARC should do its best to promote the activities, clubs, and department events happening in each department all around campus.

Since I became an ARC student in December 2020, I have not had the chance to visit the campus in person until very recently. I was looking forward to seeing what all there was to do around campus. I saw nothing. 

While the fewer number of students present is understandable, there was no notice of anything occurring on campus as I walked around. The only time I did see promotional posters was when I entered specific buildings.

The music department, for example, had posters put up all around their building for an upcoming jazz recital on May 5. The event titled “A Tribute to the War Years” features big band music from the ARC jazz ensemble and jazz combos plus a performance from Parker and the Weis Guys. But the only place these posters could be seen was in the hallways of the music department. The only people who knew this event was happening were people who had walked through the department.

That is the sort of event that will want to bring students back on campus and show off the talents of the music department. Unfortunately, it appears that the only people who would have ever known about it are people who are a part of the music department.

The same could be said for the theater department. The department was performing its production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” from April 22-May 1, yet there were no posters or any statement outside of the theater department that would suggest there is even a play happening in the first place.

Those were the two departments in particular that I noticed that had significant upcoming events, but only those associated with those departments would know about. It seems like a safe assumption that many other departments such as athletics, fashion and health are dealing with very similar circumstances.

For some students, this will be their first time back on campus since the pandemic began. Having the outreach from clubs, departments and events around campus promoting what they do will help grow both student and department interest.

It is also up to the departments to promote their events and activities to the entire school, not just themselves. They should want there to be as much outreach for their activities as possible. 

With the campus not being fully open yet, I understand that there will not be as many students there to reach out to. But once this semester ends, this issue will become more serious. It would be in the department’s best interest to promote themselves more and more as students start coming back to campus.

Students will want to know what is going on around campus whether it is a club meeting, sporting event, or a dance recital. Students will support the events going around the campus, but if they never hear or read about it, then that support will never come.