Being creative in challenging times: RIT Croatia's Eta Sigma Delta chapter moving forward with adaptive mindset

October 19, 2020

It is a common knowledge nowadays that events and various interactive activities have been deeply affected by the current situation caused by COVID-19 pandemics. Consequently, this has had an impact on plans and actions of student clubs at RIT Croatia. To learn how students and their mentors function and adapt in challenging times, we have talked to Mirko Đukić, 4^thyear student of the HTM program and Marketing Director of RIT Croatia's Eta Sigma Delta Honor Society chapter (ESD).

Q: How did this whole COVID-19 situation impact the work and plans of RIT Croatia's ESD?

Mirko Đukić: "The COVID-19 situation has substantially affected operations of the ESD, mostly because it limits the usual scope of the events we regularly organized such as Family Feud which requires teams and audience presence, however, we actively worked on finding an alternative - and we succeeded. Additionally, due to COVID-19 not all members of the ESD's e-board are in Dubrovnik, thus the group meetings and decision-making processes are also affected by this situation. "

Q: What are the biggest challenges you are facing nowadays?

Mirko Đukić: "The challenges that exist in the current context mainly refer to the event organization as those are our core activities. RIT Croatia's ESD presence on social media (Instagram in particular) has increased and is already drawing the attention from a much wider audience than before. Our budget has been approved allowing the implementation of the planned activities, thus no other challenges have been identified. "

Q: How did you adapt to the recent developments due to COVID-19?

Mirko Đukić: "E-board and Ms.Milena Kužnin, Faculty member who holds an advisory role, have been committed to finding solutions for each of the potential obstacles hindering our operations and regular activities. So far, we have optimized our work and adapted to the recent developments. Each year the ESD Board of Governors selects a service theme and this year it is "Shine Bright Like 75 Diamonds" (in honor of the 75th anniversary of the ICHRIE, https://www.chrie.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageID=3578) and RIT Croatia's ESD will use it as a guiding light for all the below mentioned activities."

Q:What are your plans for the academic year 2020/21?

Mirko Đukić: "Our plans for academic year 2020/21 have been stipulated within the Student Government Club Proposal and they are as follows:

Fall semester: Team building activity (outside the campus), Induction ceremony (November, probably online, or if offline then on the Campus), Family Feud (online-offline blended).

Spring Semester: Participating at the virtual ESD student conference organized by ICHRIE and Eta Sigma Delta board of governors (online, date TBD), Family Feud (online-offline blended)."

The current members and e-board positions at RIT Croatia's ESD are: Antonia Stanković (President), Angel Hristov (Vice-President), Ana Moretić (Secretary), Mirko Đukić (Marketing Director), Jelena Benić, Teodora Božović, Elena Burgin, Kaitlin D'Costa, Sara Siništaj and Noemi Markić.

Indeed, it all comes down to being able to reinvent and adapt in challenging times. This group of young students, willing to learn and create under nurturing supervision of their mentor, Ms. Milena Kužnin, has worked this year more than ever to keep the ESD story up and running. Large efforts have been invested in attracting new members into ESD and it resulted in a high inflow of applications for membership, hence this year the number of members will increase by 10 at least.