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The Gorilla Activity Board showed “Dear Evan Hansen” in the Overman Student Center on Feb. 16. The event was used to get students together for a movie and also as an opportunity to promote mental health resources and campus counseling services.
The movie, “Dear Evan Hansen,” is based on the Broadway musical of the same name. The movie tells the story of the main character Evan Hansen who suffers from social anxiety. He works to overcome adversity and adjust to life as a student in high school.
“We selected (the movie) because we thought it would be popular, but also because it also goes along with the mental health that many students have to deal with,” said Cale Chapman, president of GAB. “So we thought that this would be a good movie to kind of get some extra utility out of this event.”
The story has addressed many difficult subjects including suicide, mental health, and drug abuse. During the playing of the movie, a counselor was available for students to talk about mental health and any anxiety that students may have felt while watching the film.
A booklet was also provided so students can learn about mental health and the resources that the university provides.
“GAB tries every semester to do at least one kind of movie night event for students to get out and see a current release for free,” Chapman said.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the beginning of February. However, due to weather conditions, it was rescheduled to Feb. 16.
“Going into the week we were watching the weather just like everybody else on campus to try and figure out if we were going to have school or not. If the campus shuts down, then we shut down and we were just watching the weather. “
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gorilla Activity Board has had to reschedule a number of events. The cancellation of the movie night was no different than those previous events.
“We’ve had to reschedule stuff before last year was really, really wild with everything switching to virtual so you know, it’s not something we ever want to do because you know, we plan our events for those certain dates, and we’d like them to go the way that we intend,” Chapman said.
The Gorilla Activity Board has several upcoming events for the spring semester. One event is a performance by African Soul, a storytelling and performance group.
“We have African Soul coming up after spring break at the Bicknell Center. Then we have sunset yoga in April. Finally, we will end the year with Bananarama, which is our end of the year celebration.” Chapman said.
Chapman talked about GAB’s mission to include as many students as possible in their event. He encourages students to come to the events and find new people to connect with.
“So that kind of goes along with GAB’s, mission statement and vision, and that’s something that we go over at the beginning of every semester we get new members, and we try to improve it and stuff like that. But you know, GAB’s mission is to provide a safe and inclusive environment on campus.” Chapman said.
More information about upcoming GAB events can be found on Gorilla Engage.