Extra-curriculars in COVID-19
(To experience an audial exhibition, please press play above.)
This exhibition regards extra-curriculars under COVID-19. It explores how people spent their time outside of their professional or academic commitments from March 2020 as announced by the government on 23rd March 2020 up until the present day (Prime Minister’s Office, 2020). I have asked a variety of people from different backgrounds at different times to fill in an anonymous survey, to gauge how they spent their time and gain as representative of an image as possible (Thomas 2021). As a result, this exhibition will use all 65 responses. Whilst ‘extra-curriculars under COVID-19’ does explore the experiences of others to help create the most representative picture possible of the situation between these dates, I also used some of my personal experiences as well to create a more personal picture of our recent experiences, and I hope this will resonate with the visitors who attend my exhibition by giving them a personal dimension to my own experience with extra-curriculars under COVID-19. Zaccoletti, Camacho, Correia, Aguiar, Mason, Alves and Daniel state that ‘extracurricular activities are optional activities, physically or mentally stimulating, encompassing structure’ (Zaccoletti S, Camacho A, Correia N, et al 2020), and this definition certainly influences my object choices, as well as the activities put forth in my survey by those who responded, but this exhibition is also influenced by the personal experiences of myself as aforementioned.
Artifact 1- Weights and Bikes
A personal experience of my extracurriculars can be noted in this entry depicting weights and a bike, representing exercise. At a time where the only direction to look was forward, I found that it was crucial to take this time to improve my health in my spare time. I remember vividly many of my peers spending much of their free time developing fitness routines to leave lockdown much healthier. This is something that I wanted to emulate. Interestingly, extra-curriculars are known to be fun activities to take part in when away from professional and academic commitments, but COVID-19 modified the definition of an extra-curricular activity for me and my peers into that can be done on the side of your commitments to help your future as well. This demonstrates the importance of COVID-19 not only in changing the opportunities for extra-curricular activities, but the definition of an extra-curricular activity.
Artifact 2- Roman Tiles
Pilkington de Whalley (2020) Roman Tiles
Next in my exhibition are pieces of Roman tile that me and my group discovered on an archaeology dig, which ended up being one of my favourite extra-curricular activities that I undertook. I very much enjoyed volunteering my time to support other causes, one of which being archaeology. These pieces of tile represent the many hours that I spent finding archaeological remains whilst supporting the digging teams in sorting out their findings. These are some of our proudest finds and these represent the pinnacle of my happiness in a world so consumed by chaos. These tiles represent the release that I felt from being constrained in my home as the rule of six for educational purposes became reinforced temporarily. Thus, one of my deepest interests throughout COVID-19 was to develop my archaeological knowledge, and this led to some extremely interesting discoveries.
Artifact 3- Diary
This image depicts my personal diary that I used thoroughly throughout COVID-19. Much of my experiences on a day-to-day basis are kept in here, and I would enjoy writing down my thoughts and experiences of what my life was like in lockdown. Whilst this was certainly a way to regulate my brain’s health, I would certainly use it for my enjoyment as well. For example, there are a variety of doodles and diagrams in here that I would jot down when there was not much else to do. However, this activity was able to take me away from a time that seemed so bleak. Inside here are plans for the future such as plans including my career, something which I enjoyed thinking about and wrote down in this diary. Thus, this diary serves as a portal to a different, much better time.
Artifact 4- Books
67% of the people whom I surveyed stated that they began to read thoroughly throughout lockdown as an extracurricular activity as a way to escape from their responsibilities and the world. Many of those I surveyed began to see their life comprising two things, work, and lockdown, and this dichotomy was escaped by implementing habits such as this extracurricular. Some began reading for enjoyment and read thrillers. Some began reading to learn and read books that helped them learn a foreign language such as French, as observed on the laptop above. However, some would read more to their children and began to implement more adventure stories to take their children away from the repetitive nature of life, helping the parents as well. It is clear to see how books served a different purpose for everybody, making it an extremely popular, yet varied extracurricular activity implemented by many during the lockdown.
Artifact 5- Trainers
From those I surveyed, 72% stated that they began to walk more often as an extracurricular activity. One of these people sent a photo of their trainers that eventually became irreversibly dirty from daily hikes and outdoor exercises. These trainers certainly depict how COVID-19 led people to become more proactive. These trainers likely would have been used for other experiences if COVID-19 had not occurred, such as being worn to pubs or restaurants. Instead, COVID-19 made people look for alternatives to life and walking more often is representative of this. This extracurricular activity was so common in so many different ways. Some developed a habit to make this a part of their day to have a break from lockdown pressures, whilst some adopted this habit to develop their fitness habits. Nonetheless, these trainers show how people had to adapt to the changing situation of COVID-19.
Activity
This activity allows visitors of my exhibition to interact with its key themes. These themes are represented by words in a word search referring to extracurricular activities adopted by me and others. It also includes words associated with these activities. It is aimed at those who seek to develop their understanding of the changes imposed on society. This can be discovered by creating sentences to help us gauge a representative understanding of the variety of extracurriculars. Those who interact are strongly encouraged to include their own key words to develop upon a constantly changing conversation.
Wordsearch Link-
https://thewordsearch.com/puzzle/2274720/extracurriculars-in-covid-19/
/Or for an image form without clicking the link-
/Or for audial access-
Please upload your sentences to this google docs form using this link-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15RfMukcWIzkXn4llM4WG3zKVo9IaQXmwGxaCjASpLIE/edit?usp=sharing
Bibliography-
Primary Sources-
Pilkington de Whalley. (2020). Roman Tiles.
Prime Minister’s Office. (2020). Prime Minister’s Statement on Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Thomas, Ben. (2021). ‘extra-curriculars in COVID-19’. Survey Monkey. Available From: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DLN58F6.
Secondary Sources-
Zaccoletti S, Camacho A, Correia N, et al. (2020) Parents’ Perceptions of Student Academic Motivation During the COVID-19 Lockdown: A Cross-Country Comparison. Front Psychol. Vol. 11. Available From: <doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.592670>.