By By: Alyssa Foster
Staff Writer
The IU South Bend Honors Program will be hosting a movie night with Dr. Ann Grens for Honors students to attend for event credit on March 11.
The group will be viewing the documentary, Chasing Coral, via the YouTube Party extension. They will be joined by Dr. Ann Grens, professor of biological sciences, who will be sharing information and insights on the topic of the documentary.
The documentary will last about 90 minutes and will be followed by a session with Grens that will last for about a half an hour.
“[She] will lead a discussion about what we watched, such as the importance of coral reefs and what we can do to ensure that they are protected,” Shelby Perkins, Honors Club Vice President, said.
The event is entirely free for honors students, though they must add the YouTube Party extension to their device prior to the start of the event. The program has switched to YouTube Party after a small issue with Netflix Party last semester, where some students were unable to view the movie.
“That was either because students did not have a Netflix account or did not have the extension properly loaded or turned on in their browser,” Perkins explained. “YouTube Party is similar to Netflix Party; however, it is much easier for all of our students to create and use a YouTube account.”
If students do not yet have a YouTube account, they will need to make one in order to access the documentary on the night of the event. According to Perkins, performing a Google search for the YouTube Party extension should bring the link up as the first option.
“I would also recommend students try it out on their own first so they’re familiar with it and work out any troubles they may have before our event,” Perkins said.
The IU South Bend Honors Program has put together events for students to attend regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic pushing back in-person gatherings. Movie nights were previously hosted on campus, though they were turned virtual during the fall semester. The transition to hosting online events has not been the easiest for the Honors Club officers.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do all that we have this year without our students’ openness, flexibility and cooperation,” Perkins said.
As the Honors Program works to complete the semester online, there is hope for more in-person events as the campus resumes normal operations in the fall.
