 My name is Gwen Maxis and I'm a senior taking epic this year. My name is Mika and I'm the freshman representative of Tufts allies Hi, my name is Micah and I'm the co-president of the South Asian Regional Committee under the IGL. Hello My name is down me and I'm a junior studying international relations I was part of the 2019 to 2020 epic colloquium on the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities Hi, everyone. My name is Patrick billiard. I am a senior at Tufts who is also the president of the Tufts Latin American Committee And if there's one thing that Tufts lack has had to learn this semester It has been to think outside of the box Obviously things look really different this semester because everything's online But the IGL has done a really excellent job of ensuring the epic experience is still meaningful and impactful Just as it would be in any other year in March when Tufts had to close this campus due to COVID-19 All events were moved online and we had to quickly adapt the symposium to a virtual format Thankfully with the help of the IGL staff in October We were able to put together a virtual symposium with six panelists followed by breakout rooms Which were moderated and facilitated by students of the epic colloquium We take the course with students who are in other parts of the country and other parts of the world They tune into the same zoom link that we do and engage in the discussions with us and ask questions of the speaker with us and I think this has really contributed to This year's group being able to establish the same sort of camaraderie The epic is really known for and that continuously draws students year after year after year While adjusting to the COVID pandemic hasn't been easy for students and student organizations Allies has taken the move to a virtual format as an opportunity to expand our programming Just two weeks ago allies held our seventh annual civil military relations conference Rather than scaling down the event. We decided that the virtual format was the perfect opportunity to scale it up Not only did we add two additional presentations to our conference We invited an expanded number of universities at CMRC Due to COVID all of our events over the semester and in the summer moved online However, this gave us the opportunity to expand our reach beyond the Tufts community and Engage with scholars and experts from across the globe. For example, we had Dr. Maung Zarni from Myanmar Speak to us about the Rohingya crisis through a webinar And we also had Kiruba Munusami speak to us about the Dalit feminist movement and caste-based sexual violence in India All across from all from across the globe Allies has also taken this as an opportunity to expand our speaker programming Each year allies hold a speaker series featuring about two speakers a semester this semester We've had the opportunity to invite five speakers Best of all the move to a fully virtual format for Tufts allies means better engagement with her global alumni community In fact this semester alone. We've already spoken with six alumni more than in the last three years combined In fact, their willingness to participate and help current allies students means that next semester We intend to hold another panel this time focused on careers in international relations here at LAC what we strive to do is foster discussion of contemporary issues of the Latin American region and You know, we normally do rely on physical events and being able to be in places in person but given the circumstances of the semester we have found alternative routes to make sure that we do not sacrifice the quality of the discussion While you know still being able to maintain it in a safe format I think epic committees are a really central part of the curriculum in an area in which this year Students have still been able to connect with each other and work together We still meet in committees just as we would weekly in any other semester They're just online and for me personally this has been really cool It's allowed me to get to know students on a personal level and get to know their work ethic And really collaborate with them even if they're taking a class from another part of the world or another part of the country I think this also contributes to the camaraderie that epic is so known for and that's really special To this course in this program This has entailed You know changing physical events and turning them into webinars changing in-person discussions to online discussion forums or Zoom meetings Where we've really been able to not only discuss Latin American topics in such unprecedented times But also, you know forage community of people that are also interested in the region We also had to make adjustments in terms of Scheduling for our executive board meetings given the fact that our members were from across were all over the globe But I think overall stock was able to adapt well to the COVID-19 pandemic But the COVID-19 pandemic has also not stopped allies from holding our weekly discussion meetings These weekly discussion meetings are held on Zoom They give our students a chance to directly engage with one another over the pressing geopolitical matters of the day We intend to hold these meetings in the spring and we hope to see you there I think the bottom line is that despite being online. We've still been able to engage in really meaningful Discussions and stimulating conversations. I'm really thankful And I think the entire class is really thankful to the entire IGL staff Who have done an excellent job of making sure this transition to mostly online learning is as seamless as possible And making sure that the epic experience is just as rigorous and impactful While also being just as fun as it is in any other year That's what's been happening this first semester, and I'm really excited to see what happens in the next one