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During the Spring 2021 semester, we collectively passed by an anniversary we wish we could forget: the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the United States. 

For community building, the pandemic presented a paradox: it was a challenge we were enduring together yet it kept us physically far apart. During the pandemic, individual actions significantly affected how easily the virus spread; and we needed to always consider the community. The need for community building was not eradicated by the pandemic, but the new methods we needed to use -- the how -- were unclear. What innovative strategies could we implement if the old way of community building, through in-person interactions, was no longer possible? Additionally, after the pandemic ended, was there value in continuing some of these novel strategies to further grow our student community in the digital age? 

I thought about these questions while I prepared for the 2020 - 21 academic year. I am an undergraduate physics major and the Event Coordinator for Out in Stem (oSTEM) @ the University of Colorado, Boulder. oSTEM @ ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Æ· is a student-led chapter of the national organization oSTEM Inc. Our mission is to support and create social space for LGBTQ+ students in STEM. I have held student leadership positions at oSTEM @ CU over the past few years because I am passionate about creating LGBTQ+ positive space in STEM on campus. 
Each year, I have worked together with other student leaders in oSTEM @ CU to meet the challenge of furthering our mission towards equity. This time around, CEAS students Orion Rozance, Luca Bonarrigo and Kade Eisen joined me on the oSTEM @ CU board. We worked together to identify how the pandemic impacted STEM LGBTQ+ students and how oSTEM @ ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Æ· could help. 

First, we identified some obstacles that the pandemic created for our students. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) 2018 Report surveyed over 10,000 youths to determine key differences between LGBTQ+ youths and their non-LGBTQ+ peers. Concerns over family acceptance was one major difference between these two groups. The traditional college experience is a time for social self discovery; however, during the pandemic, this journey to self discovery can stall when students are forced to do schoolwork in their home environments. LGBTQ+ individuals generally report higher levels of stress than their non-LGBTQ+ peers, and this divide continues through the pandemic increasing stress levels. 

On a personal note, finding an in-person LGTBQ+ community was an important step in my own self-discovery. Without one-on-one conversations, I would not have been able to open my worldview to other ways of being or have gained the practical knowledge about existing as an LGBTQ+ person. Being part of an LGBTQ+ community was the only solace I knew of in a world, including both inside and outside STEM academia, built around heteronormative experinces.

The solution, therefore, was to find the right formula that created a successful and virtual social space that also navigated the new obstacles the pandemic presented. 

In the beginning, we believed that it would be easy to translate in-person social experiences into virtual ones. However, as the Fall semester marched on, the mind numbing effects of multiple Zoom meetings wore me thin and proved to be a poor equivalent to lively, in-person discussion. We needed to identify some qualitative differences between virtual and in-person social spaces and change, not translate, how people interacted online. 

The first word that came to mind when comparing the pre-pandemic era to our current climate was uncertainty. Uncertainty marked oSTEM @ CU’s  quick transition to the purely digital space when the virus began to spread in Colorado. Uncertainty marked oSTEM @ CU’s  financial planning when we were waiting to see how the pandemic would affect the student funding board process. We were all uncertain about what the next day would bring. We all entered into the pandemic assuming that the social changes and restrictions needed to curb the pandemic’s spread were temporary. We hoped that the next day, month or year might bring a return to normalcy. 

In this climate, being convinced that the restrictive effects of the COVID response would only be temporary, investing time into the community seemed like something that could be put off until the end of the pandemic. This attitude is partly why our digital activities and environments were not as successful as we might have hoped: people were simply unwilling to invest their time and energy into things that would presumably fade out upon our return to normalcy.  

Another challenge of moving into the digital space was the difficulty in predicting whether a virtual activity idea would be fun or dull. The pace and manner by which people engaged online was different than in-person, so activities needed to reflect that change. By completing event and meeting run-throughs -- low-pressure rehearsals conducted online -- we were able to fine-tune games like ‘Mafia’, find better ways to encourage conversation using breakout rooms and choose resonant ice-breaker questions. Only through trial and error were we able to create activities that were fun. In order to convince participants that engaging online was worth their time, we also created virtual activities that were unique to the digital space. One invention that worked very well was co-writing concerns and demands for change using a document participants could contribute to in real time. We were able to create two of these documents: one concerning the intersections between LGBTQ+ Identity, Disability, and STEM, and the other concerning what the future of LGBTQ+ STEM advocacy holds. This activity both allowed individuals to form relationships and resulted in a practical document that informed our club and other interested individuals at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Æ· about intersectional issues.  

Finally, we wanted to know if any of our online community building efforts could last beyond the pandemic. Early in Spring 2020, before the pandemic, I envisioned a program for LGBTQ+ high school students interested in STEM fields that provided both interviews with LGBTQ+ STEM students and professionals as well as STEM skill building workshops. The goal of the program was to both connect LGBTQ+ high school students with STEM role models and also develop STEM skills in an LGBTQ+ positive environment. 

When the pandemic spread in Colorado, I thought about ways to move the program into a virtual space. After speaking with our advisor, Dr. Robyn Sandekian, and one of my collaborators on the project and high school biology teacher, Sam Long, we realized that hosting the program in a virtual space would make it more accessible to high school students. During the summer of 2020, I interviewed ten LGBTQ+ individuals and we discussed a range of topics: applying to college, finding place in STEM as an LGBTQ+ individual, and challenges faced at the graduate and professional level. 

I used my background in experimental cosmology to design a workshop on the Cosmic Microwave Background. We also created a collaborative Creative Writing Workshop. I was especially proud of the writing workshop because I worked with two other students, including our incoming 2021 president Luca Bonarrigo, and a recent graduate: all of whom had both STEM and creative backgrounds. The content of the program was geared to high school students making the step towards college, but it was also useful for current college students looking for programs that support LGBTQ+ visibility in STEM. We hope to continue the program going into the Summer of 2021 and expand its reach. 

The next summer and fall seem both exciting and stressful. I see the promise of in-person activities resuming yet this excitement is mixed with the uncertainty over how exactly easing restrictions will unfold. However, I am confident that, as a community, we will meet these challenges. In the end, this pandemic provided an opportunity to gain flexibility and new knowledge about student community engagement in the digital age.