BYU-Idaho revamps family home evenings

There is no need to mourn for your long-lost social life as Edgar Allen Poe mourned for his dear Lenore, because Campus Life Events and Student Living have your back — from a distance — and a mask for a dollar if you happen to leave yours at home.

Going from home evenings to campus evenings

Many are sick of quarantine and chill, so BYU-Idaho’s President’s executive Council pushed for home evenings on campus.

“We were told that we should do FHE, so it was all of sudden we just had to start to plan,” said Diego Jara Ulloa, a junior studying business. “My boss communicates with the president’s executive council, or executive group, and that idea came from them.”

Renee Christensen, student support coordinator, assigned Jara Ulloa to be in charge of planning activities on behalf of student support alongside other departments for home evening activities this semester and for the upcoming winter semester.

“This is the first time we are doing home evening as campus life events,” Jara Ulloa said. “We have done activities we are in charge of doing home evening this semester. We are collaborating with student living while they are over FHE, but they wanted our help to run the events.”

Changing the culture associated with school events is something they are working on. The vision they have is not only having campus as an inclusive place where friends can be made, but also a place where fun is had and activities are truly enjoyed.

Jara Ulloa explained that, while many associate campus activities with an unnecessary amount of rules, the culture of activities is changing.

“We want to bring students to campus to have fun in a safe space,” Jara Ulloa said. “[We also want] to keep students physically safe when it comes to coronavirus and also want to keep those same principles, physically and spiritually, where they can have a safe environment where they can have a lot of fun.”

Jara Ulloa said that, while there are not many venues in Rexburg, they want to make sure that these different activities many enjoy are being offered on campus.

The umph to home evening planning

Switching it up from game nights and volleyball, Whitney Lybbert, a freshman studying elementary education, and her home evening group checked out other activities to be more involved on campus.

“I heard about the app the first day of school,” said Lybbert of the I-Belong app.

Scrolling through a list of activities, one service project caught her group’s attention. A neighboring home evening group did the same.

“We found out from the home page [which] listed a service project, and so we looked at available events and registered through the website,” said Lindsay Williams, a senior studying horticulture. “We are supposed to make mats out of plastic bags.”

Students can check out BYU-I campus life events on their Instagram and from the student event newsletter sent from the University every Monday. You can reserve spots for home evening groups as well.

Your activities line up

“On Mondays, we usually have laser or archery tag and have service projects going on,” said Alma McDonald, a freshman studying business management operations and program assistant for campus life events and student support. “We usually have karaoke upstairs with mini-golf, we have big games near the info desk area, we have bubble balls. It’s switched up every week. Most popular are archery and laser tag.”

A list of activities by category and the cost of each are listed on the BYU-I activities page.

Aside from Monday evenings, there will be activities offered Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

McDonald said there are discounts on date nights when couples show up for activities, such as paint night.

“Today we went to the mini-golf, it was pretty awesome,” shared Joshuah Calderon, a sophomore studying computer information technology. “It was glow-in-the-dark and everything. Then we played Just Dance, and we had a ball with that. We are having some fun hanging out with our FHE brothers and sisters.”

Precautions with COVID-19

Part of ensuring all are able to have fun is making sure {{that }}everyone is staying safe.

“In all of our events, people have to wear masks,” Jara Ulloa said. “If you do not wear a mask, you can purchase one at the door for $1.”

Going up to the third floor where singing and laughter and applause can be heard, one can take note that after each participant takes the stage, the microphone is wiped down and social distance is maintained as two to three groups remain in their clusters.

“We have hand sanitizer, every time they use something everyone has to use hand sanitizer,” Jara Ulloa said. “They must stay with their FHE group or stay 6 feet apart.”

A look into the winter semester

“With the student living director over the council, we have been planning what we are going to do for next semester,” Jara Ulloa said. “We are going to have a different activity every single week of the month.”

Of the activities that will be offered, he shared that the first week of the month will be repeated monthly, and on the fifth Monday of the month, a service activity will be held.

In planning for the winter semester, student support along with student living and student activities plan for a some 280 – 300 students to attend. Marketing, advertising and ecclesiastical leaders will be working to spread the word of home evenings on campus.

Two family home evenings choose karaoke as their form of entertainment for the night. Photo credit: Wendy Mena

For those who enjoy a good game of chess, there is a big game of chess along with other games to take part in. Photo credit: Wendy Mena

Students volunteers prepare for the participating students masked and ready in line to be called by groups they signed up in.