In addition to Mountain Day, the Spring 2021 semester included Meadow Days! They were a wonderful reprieve from classes!
I started out the morning with my friend (and Junior Class President), Giulia, as we went over to the President's house for free t-shirts! We also took the selfie pictured above with Baishakhi Taylor, Dean of the College & Vice President for Campus Life, and Tamra Bates, Director of Student Engagement. As members of student government, Giulia and I had many Zoom meetings with them and it was so exciting to see them in person!
After that, I checked in with the swim & dive team for a wonderful brunch on the King/Scales lawn (lovingly known as "the beach").
After that, I spent most of my day relaxing on the various lawns of Smith College with friends. Also, Meadow Days were during our week long athletics spoon assassins game so some activities were interrupted by running for our lives haha!
The second Meadow Day was my friend, Sasha's, birthday so we made sure to get her free birthday sundae from Herrell's Ice Cream! Overall, Meadow Day was a fun little mid-week break that I definitely needed!
One of the biggest time commitments I had during my first year was the swim & dive team! Last semester however, things were a little bit different. Here's how it went! (Pictured above is me at our end-of-season meet, complete with a green-dyed mullet... a grullet)
In a normal year, things would look like the photo above (taken in Fall 2019), but with the pandemic, we had to make some adjustments. The first was practice times. Because only 12 people could be in the pool at one time, we had scattered practices so not all of us saw each other each day. I went from 8 practices in the pool and 3 practices in the weight room a week to 3 in the pool and 2 in the weight room. However, we are still the super-close-loving team we always are and found many ways to connect with each other.
We ate many meals together (similar to how we'd crowd together in Tyler dining hall) and enjoyed hearing about everyone's day!
The captains made sure to keep team traditions, such as yarn night (pictured above), alive which was a wonderful way to meet the new first years and connect with the team again.
The first years still put on their "first year skit," we participated in an Athletics-wide Spoon Assassins Hunt (which got particularly brutal), and even got to compete in a meet against Mount Holyoke at the end of the season! Overall, I was so happy to still have swim workouts in my routine and was even happier to stay connected to the team!
Pictured above is my finalized class schedule but I had made a few changes in order to best suit lots of things that happened! I dropped a couple classes, and added a few others. Let's go through the process of how it all happened!
I started with the schedule pictured above. Before even attending the first Acting I class, I learned that one of my favourite theatre professors, Ellen Kaplan, would be retiring soon and I wanted to take her Directing I class which ran at the same time as Acting I. I was able to drop Acting I and pick up Directing I all online with no issues because it was during the initial two week add/drop period.
After that period ended, however, I found myself not really feeling fully engaged with the Indigenous People in the Global Order class. I had originally registered for the course when I was still on a pre-law centered track for cultural property law. Since my passions have since changed (more on this later!), and since I wasn't feeling in sync with the class, I knew I had to drop it. This process was slightly less simple than clicking a few buttons. I talked it over with my advisor and confirmed with the Dean that I hadn't missed the free-drop deadline (if I had, it would be a much more difficult process so I was glad I hadn't missed it!). Then I filled out a form, signed by both my advisor and the Dean, and once it got approved, the class was officially dropped! I am really happy that I decided to remove that course from my schedule because I ended up needing the room for a couple more 2-credit classes I added.
The first was a Theatre Special Studies for Set Design with my theatre advisor, Ed Check. Originally, I would be scouting out locations for a filmed production of Talking With... but after some discussion with the Theatre department, they decided to pass on that play. So, I shifted my Special Studies to the "Studio Productions" which are smaller-scale productions directed by Directing II students. I got to design the set for Blackademics, directed by Cate Boram 'AC. I'll go into that process later on!
The other 2 credit course I added was banjo lessons! I saw a poster advertising them in the Campus Center and on a whim, I decided to sign up! I'll definitely go into detail later on the whole semester but I am so glad I decided to try out a new instrument this semester! Since instrument lessons are for a full year, I'll return to banjo lessons in the fall semester as well.
Now that that is all cleared up, it's time to talk about my finalized schedule! All of my classes were remote this semester.
Directing I: I had so much fun with this course! I learned so much about how to direct and run a rehearsal, but also so much about the arts. We had guest speakers like Jerry Zaks too! The class was a great way to learn about the artistic process. I really enjoyed being the director but also being directed by my talented peers. Our final project was to each direct a 10 minute scene of our choosing. I chose the opening scene from Sky Gilbert's Drag Queens on Trial and had an absolute blast creating theatre with my friends, filled with costumes, eccentric makeup, and lots of laughs!
Translating New Worlds: This is an art history class taught by my advisor, Dana Leibsohn. It definitely challenged me! Each of the assignments were not in a typical academic-based tone, but rather focused on grant writing and article writing. These different types of assignments pushed me out of my comfort zone and really helped grow my writing. The readings and subject matter were so compelling and I learned so so much from the class discussions. I am really grateful I pushed myself in this class because it really paid off!
UMass Museums Seminar: My first 5 College Consortium Class and I didn't even have to travel there haha! This course is normally a graduate-level seminar but they opened it up to undegrads and I am so happy they did! I had to email the professor and fill out an extra form to sign up for the course, since it was not a Smith College course, but it was not hard at all. The course itself revolved around a new museums-based topic each week from mission statements to collections to technology. We chose a local museum to "case study" (I chose the Smith College Museum of Art of course) and applied each of our weekly readings to our case study which we would present to the class. As a museums concentrator, the topics were all super interesting and I loved being able to apply them to a museum I was familiar with. I also got to talk with many members of the SCMA staff while researching my case study. It was super fascinating to learn about the inner-workings of the college's museum! The culmination of this class was a research paper on a more-specific topic of our choosing for our case study. I chose to compare and contrast Student Educator Programs at the SCMA and local museums which were usually inspired in some manner by the SCMA's pioneering program. It was a very rewarding class and I gained so much information and insight.
So that was my semester in terms of courses! I'll be sure to pitch in some more details on a few of the projects along the way. Overall, this semester was one of the most challenging yet as I juggled returning to campus and keeping up with virtual classes. This sentiment is shared with my peers when I asked if they were just as occupied this semester. We speculated that, after a full academic year of virtual classes, our tiredness might just be from too much Zoom!! While I enjoyed my courses this semester, I am looking forward to hopefully being in-person in the fall!
Since I got to campus earlier than most, I had a month's worth of Blue Mode instead of two weeks. Here are some ways I spent my time in this altered version of campus!
I think the biggest difference from "regular campus" would be the dining halls. I plan on making a separate post about food, but in short, this semester, students used the GrubHub app to order their meals and picked the food up in their respective dining hall (in each hall, the meals were sorted by last name, which is what is pictured above). Since it was usually snowing outside, I felt pretty happy to have the King/Scales dining hall just downstairs!
Once everyone was on campus and classes started, they were all remote (so we got to skip the snowy walks!). Since I had placed my desk by my window, I found it super peaceful and cozy to watch the snow fall while in class (picture above!).
Alas, I did not spend 100% of my time inside during Blue Mode. In the fall semester, I took lots of walks with my family and knew I needed that same connection to nature this semester. My friend, Sasha, also arrived on campus early so we took many walks just around campus. It was amazing to see the new sidewalks that opened up as the New Neilson Library finished. We even got to peek in the new windows (as pictured above)!
In comparison to the future Green Mode, Blue Mode was super quiet. But in comparison to my remote Northern Michigan setting, Blue Mode was a bustling center of life! It was so great to see all of my friends and teammates again, even if it was just briefly in the dining hall or on a walk around campus. Blue Mode was a great way to get back into socializing and into the college atmosphere again. Plus, I didn't mind being inside all day when it was super chilly outside haha!
Once I got out of quarantine, I was so excited to go back to King Haus and set up my room! The photo above is of the finished product but it took a while to get there!
I started by rearranging the furniture in my room in a way that works best for me (left photo is before, right is after. the video is a time lapse of me moving things around–and thinking about my decisions haha!) I was glad to be one of the first students on campus while I was doing all of this shuffling around because it was pretty noisy! I put my desk by the window, since I knew I would spend lots of time there, and I put my bed near the window too so I could have a view.
From there, I went into decorating mode which includes putting up the poster/photo wall that I had made last semester and putting up a whole bunch of string lights to make the room super cozy! The above photo is all of my items laid out on the floor as I plan out their layout. Overall, I was really happy with my room layout and decor. I definitely overpacked in general, but my advice to incoming Smithies is to bring things (postcards, photos, posters) that you make you happy! I have some photos of my friends, notes from family, and cut-up shopping bags from my favourite stores at home. I also brought postcards from art museums I visited, and printed out memes and photos from my favourite TV shows and comics. Anytime I was at my desk, I could glance over and smile at something on that wall.
Even though I had a blast decorating my room last year, I knew that this year, my space would be more important than before because of the amount of time I expected to stay in there, at least for the first two weeks of Blue Mode. Hopefully, new Smithies won't have to experience this amount of time spent alone in your room, but it's still important to have a space to come home to every night that sparks joy for you!
It seems like it happened forever ago, but here is what happened while I was in quarantine at the Fairfield in. In case you missed it, here is how Move-In Day went!
Before I begin, Smith required incoming students (who were not in Massachusetts for two weeks prior to move-in) to be tested and quarantine in a nearby hotel until the test results came back negative. I arrived in the evening on the 26th and was back at Smith during the afternoon of the 28th! Here is what I did...
Right away, I totally spread out with my items haha! Here is what the room looked like:
Smith staff put together a bag which included a craft, some snacks, and information about the coming days in quarantine. Then dinner arrived and it (as was all the food!) very good!!
I spent the following day going to a meeting and working on an internship application that was due. I made sure that I had something to do while in quarantine so I wouldn't get too bored and that was a perfect way to do so!
The next day, I got an email that my test was negative, and then a few hours later, I got the email from ResLife that I could go back to Smith on the shuttle. It was so exciting to step outside my hotel room and see the other excited Smithies!! We all hopped on the next shuttle and went back to our respective houses.
I immediately was so excited to start shuffling around my furniture and making sure my room for the next three months felt like home!
January came around and the day finally arrived: I was heading back to Smith's campus! I was actually in New York City at the time, so I met up with my parents who drove from Michigan, and then we made the rest of the drive to Northampton a day before I had to move in. Here is how move-in went!
I was moving in on Tuesday so on Monday, we visited the storage locker that housed most of my items from last year. We picked up a few items and then had lunch. It was nice to spend the day with my parents, knowing I wouldn't be seeing them again until May.
On Tuesday, we prepared the car. Smith's move-in process is that you Check-In and get tested, then you have one hour to move in your items, and then you proceed to quarantine. However, my family ran into the problem where my fridge did not fit into the car with other things in the car. More on this in a moment!
At Central Check-In in the Campus Center, I received a lanyard, a Smith College mask, and was ushered upstairs to receive my self-administered test (it does not hurt at all!). Then I was again ushered over to the ResLife desk to receive my King House room key and my quarantine assignment (Fairfield Inn!). I also received a bracelet which indicated which day I arrived. Then I went outside, ready to move in!
We pulled around back of King House and one of my teammates, Sasha, was coincidentally the check-in person at King haha! My parents and I worked quickly to unload the car outside of King (they could not come inside because of Smith's protocol against residents from high-risk states) so that they could drive back quickly to the storage locker and swoop up the fridge. We got it done within the hour!
Then my parents drove me over to the Fairfield Inn where we made our tearful goodbyes. I am fortune enough to be able to FaceTime and call them whenever I need but I am going to miss hugs! I have really enjoyed the "bonus family time" (as my mom calls it) of 300+ days at home in 2020!
Onto the next adventure: quarantine at the Fairfield!
Back in the summer, I was asked by Professor Ellen Kaplan to become the Head of the Animation/Visual Arts Team for her (virtual) interterm production of Julius Caesar. In the Fall, I did a Special Studies with my advisor/production deisgner of JC, Professor Ed Check. I talked with both Ellen and Ed about their vision for the production and how my team's work would fit into it! Here is how that went!
It was an exciting new journey because, during previous productions, I had been doing all the work in my area. But in this production, I was delegating work and explaining my vision for the production to my team members as well as completing my own work. The Smith Theatre Department never ceases to amaze me with new ways to learn more!
Most of my team members were not free in the fall because they were enrolled in the interterm JC class, which put a damper on the amount of work I could do in the fall. However, once January rolled around, I met with the whole team, and then met with members individually to bring the animations to life!
After conferring with Ed, we ended up changing a lot of our original plan, which included animation in every video. Now, we looked for cohesive videos and other media (like this bloody eagle I drew!) that add to the overall scenic design.
As the class is coming to a close, I am spending most of my working hours sending emails and making small adjustments to the final videos. I continuously check in on my team to make sure they are doing the same and then we upload everything to be sent away to the video editors!
I have learned so much from working on such a large (and a virtual!) production! My team has been so helpful and amazing and I have had a lot of fun! I can't wait for whatever Smith Theatre brings me next!
My interterm has been much busier than I expected. I originally planned to take an art history seminar, but after talking with my advisor, we decided that it would be better for my mental health to not take the course. This is because, during interterm, I have worked on the Julius Caesar production, taken a workshop with The Center for Cartoon Studies, and moved back to Smith in a matter of three weeks haha!
As Halloween approaches this year, I thought I would reminisce on last year’s Halloween at Smith! ResLife sent out a list of houses that were going to be handing out candy on Halloween! I took it upon myself to go to every house that was participating to get as much candy as possible and also, I LOVE seeing the different houses on campus! My friends were all doing homework/didn’t want to come which meant that it was going to be a solo adventure. Here is what happened...
While my shaved head has lended itself to letting me be Eleven from Stranger Things for the past two Halloweens, I did not have the full costume at Smith so I had to improvise! I went with Orpheus from the musical Hadestown, which I had the pleasure of seeing in May 2019.
I started off my night by attending the Smith College Museum of Art’s Halloween Event. I got into a small group of people and off we went! We first looked at an interesting painting and made (often funny) one sentence horror stories about it!
Then we looked around at some other Halloween-ish paintings and took some fun photos, like this one!
After that, I went to all of the houses! I conquered my goal and got a massive pocketful of candy AND I got to see the many different ways houses celebrate Halloween!
I also got to stop by the President’s House where President McCartney was dressed as Sophia Smith and her husband, Bill, was giving out Smith-themed chocolate bars!
(I know I included this photo at the beginning, but it’s too good not to share again!)
That was my Halloween! The candy totally lasted me for the rest of the semester! It was super fun to explore the campus and all the different houses! Definitely going to miss wandering around this year!
One of the things that you’ll hear Smithies talk about all the time is the Five College Consortium. Some people take classes at other colleges or join Five College clubs. I was asked to be the projectionist for an opera which was directed by Smith Professor, Ellen Kaplan. The actors came from Amherst and UMass Amherst, and the designers were mostly Smithies! Professor Kaplan asked me to do this as I had worked with her previously and I happily accepted!
I went to a few design meetings at Smith and a production meeting at UMass (where I may have gotten lost haha!) to get an idea of what kind of projections I would be producing. Since it was J-term and I was at Smith for swim team training, I was able to spend quite a bit of my free time on these projections. I also met multiple times with the director to discuss how the projections were going/looking. Once classes started, I had to go to UMass again for tech weekend.
Here is my little station where I made sure all the projections and their transitions were smooth. The laptop was rigged to the projector on stage. While the actors finalized their blocking, I was busy adjusting mountains and doors and thunderstorms haha!
Here is one of my projections on stage! As you can see, the projections were pretty much the whole set. Additionally, the actors had costumes, but the production was put together in about a month so it was relatively low stakes and a great place to practice my (new!) craft.
Just for fun, here is a (funny) picture of me “on-com” aka with my headset that connects me to the stage manager (Alli Burgess of Smith!) who tells me when to switch projection slides. I only had to do this for tech weekend and a different student did it for the performances.
I hope this shows another side of the opportunities with the Five College System and with the theatre department!
After many registrations and a few more meetings, I have finalized my course schedule! This semester, I made sure to “shop around” for classes to make sure that I was really interested in the topics! While “shopping for classes” usually entails walking into a classroom, picking up a syllabus, and sitting down, this year was obviously a little different. Zoom Meeting Links were posted on Bannerweb for each class and so you were still able to “enter the classroom” which was really nice!
Now, onto courses!
Greek Art & Archeology: This class fits a lot of my requirements haha! It is an art history course and also applies to the museums concentration which I am interested in applying for this year which is exciting! I have also heard the Professor Worsham is super kind so that always make the environment better!
Elections in the Political Order: While this class does not apply to either of my majors, I thought it would be super interesting to take, especially this fall. I am already learning so much!
Gothic in the Modern Imagination: This is another art history course! Full transparency: I am not as enthusiastic about the “Group A” requirements for the major so that every time I see a course in that Group that interests me, I make sure to register haha!
Jesus: This is another course that does not apply to either of my majors but it intrigued me too much that I had to take it! The course revolves around dissecting the image and perceptions of Jesus.
So far, I am loving all of my classes and really enjoying my Fridays off! Currently trying to get a good routine down of when to do homework but I am optimistic!
Fall Break is a long weekend where students enjoy some fall weather and a take a break from classes. Since northern Michigan is a little bit too far to travel in such a short period of time, my teammate, Ella (left), graciously opened her home in Cranston, Rhode Island to myself and our teammate, Kristin (middle) for fall break! It was a quintessential autumn experience and I loved every second of it!
Ella wanted to show us all of her favourite places in Rhode Island. She is a very passionate “Rhody,” which made Kris and I very excited to go to this state we had heard so much about haha!
When we first arrived, we went straight to Ella’s high school’s football game which was just ending. Afterwards, we met up with some of her friends and went to a nearby Applebees’s!
The next day, we went to East Matunuck State Beach and took some photos and picked up some very pretty rocks! It was very windy.
Then we went to a pumpkin patch farm! It was so exciting for me, as someone who grew up in Florida, to experience these traditional “fall” activities in autumn weather! We went on a hay ride (pictured here), got lost in a corn maze, and even shot corn out of a “Corn Canon!” We all left with a little pumpkin to take to our house rooms.
The next day was spent driving and exploring some more parts of Rhode Island. I never knew how many colleges are packed into one little state!! We had some delicious food and enjoyed seeing other college lively campuses.
That night, we went back to Ella’s high school to watch “The City Cup,” an annual soccer game between Cranston’s rival high schools. It was so much fun and so intense!! Ella’s high school ended up winning (woot woot!!) and I also won because I got to have some delicious cheese fries while watching the match!
The next day, we walked around Ella’s neighbourhood, enjoying the beautiful weather. Then it was time to return to Smith. Overall, Fall Break is exactly that: a break in the fall. There are so many ways to experience Fall Break but I definitely loved spending mine with friends in Rhode Island!
It has been a week since President McCartney announced the change to the fall of 2020. This definitely came as a shock to me as I had planned my classes around the “multi-modal” option and was already making (physically distanced) plans with my friends who were also planning on being on-campus.
I am deeply saddened but ultimately, I understand their decision to change to fully remote and (judging by other similar colleges’ decisions) am feeling safer with this option.
I have decided to continue anyways as I am still quite excited to take my classes. Registration for rising second-years is on Friday so I will post more information later!
While I will not be on campus this fall, I still intend on blogging about my first year experience (I still have more to tell haha!) and will be sharing my remote learning experiences!
A year ago, I got my first year housing assignment to Chase House! Even though my time was cut short, I had a very pleasant 3/4 of a year being a Chasie! Here are some of my highlights!
Move in day! I got to see my name up on the Chase House banner! Each house has their own theme for convocation and ours was Chase the Stars!
Here is my before and after pictures of my room! I had a lot of fun designing and decorating my room! It always brought me joy when I came back after classes and practice.
In the first photo, our HONS, Sarah, hosted an event where we got to plant propagated succulents and then paint the pots! It was a great way to meet some familiar faces in the house and get a free plant! In the second photo, I am holding one of my big sib’s gifts from Sib Week! Each first year is paired with an upperclassmen who drop off little gifts (like taping memes to their door, or write songs on origami cranes like my big sib!) and then at the end of the week, there is a Sib Reveal Tea! I love the Big/Lil Sib tradition! In the third photo, some people from Chase went on a library scavenger hunt! This event was hosted by the HONS and the libraries. We had a piece of paper and traveled around, looking for specific art pieces and special collections before we got our prize: library themed journals! It was a really fun way to familiarize myself with the libraries and their resources as well as bond with some of my housemates!
I was also voted onto Chase House council as First Year Representative! We had House Council meetings on Sunday afternoons with news about events coming up and voiced any concerns about the house. As First Year Rep, I had a lot of free range so I made little lollipop gifts with notes of encouragements and dropped them off at my fellow first years doors (pictured here) during finals week. I also organized a “paint a trinket box” night which was really fun!
And here is a photo from the day I had to move out! I will definitely miss my cozy room with all its weirdly shaped walls!
While I am switching houses next year, I am forever grateful for my time spent in Chase House! I loved all the late night walks down Elm Street after hanging out in the Quad (it’s a lovely thing to be able to get away from the noise!), I loved being able to run back to my room in case I forgot something (which was a lot of times oops), I loved being able to sleep in an extra five minutes, and I loved the community: small but strong! Don’t let all the single rooms scare you - Chasies have a place for you!!
Hey, y’all! As another school year approaches, I thought I would share how I took notes last year! My note-taking is definitely still evolving as I take new types of classes and find what works best for me, but here is some insight from my first year of college! All of these (except my bullet journal) were purchased/can be purchased at the Smith College Campus Store!
THE Notebook: I call this notebook THE notebook for a reason haha! Because I knew that returning back to my house in between classes wasn’t going to be super applicable, I decided to put all of my notes into one notebook instead of having separate notebooks for separate classes. I also did this because I did not know which classes would be more note-heavy than others! One more reason for a centralized notebook is that it doesn’t weight down your backpack!
This notebook is used for notes in class (lectures, readings, discussions) as well as any meetings that I attend (theatre production, office hours). Fun fact! When Ben and Jerry (yes, of the ice cream company!) visited Smith, I got them to sign my notebook! It was the only thing I had on hand when I met them and now it brings a smile to my face every time I open up my notebook!
Spiral Notebook: I got this notebook when spring semester started. I use it for planning projects (including my blog posts!) and creating lists! I like keeping these things separate from THE notebook because it is more planning based and the other notebook is more information based. Plus, it gets very chaotic in this spiral notebook during finals season haha!
Two folders: I got two basic folders at the start of spring semester because I wound up with a lot of papers during fall semester and my backpack was cluttered with loose leaf paper! So I use each of the sides for each class, including syllabi and rubrics. It’s a great way to keep things organized and having all the essential information for your classes on the go!
Bullet journal: Ahh my pride and joy! I have been bullet journaling since I was a freshman in high school and I absolutely love it! I struggle with traditional dated planners because there is often a period of time where I need big daily to-do lists or there will be a period where I need nothing at all! By starting with an empty dotted notebook, I get to control what I need for when it works best for me. In college, that has been primarily daily and weekly “to-do” lists that break down everything I need to do in a period of time. I love a good list! And bonus! I get to switch up the design of my planner whenever and however I want!
When I was working remotely, I used all of the same techniques! I hope this gives you an idea of how I take notes in college!
Hey, y’all! It’s been a while since I’ve posted but I wanted to start regularly updating as we head into the new school year. Over the past few months, I have read more than a handful of other colleges’ decisions for their following year so when Smith’s plan was announced, I was not too surprised because it resembled a lot of other small liberal arts colleges’ plans. I am, of course, sad that I cannot be with juniors and seniors, but I am excited to be given the opportunity to return to campus in the fall!
Currently, I am shifting through the course catalog for updates (which are trickling in very slowly but will be done by August 1st!) and emailing my advisor about the future. Students will be reregistering for classes in mid-August. As a theatre student, I am worried about what theatre will look like in the fall but I am optimistic that the department will still provide their usual fantastic experiences! As an art history student, I have already had one of my (future) professors email the registered class, letting us know what to expect and to confirm that the class will still happen. More information for all departments will be available when the courses are finalized.
So what about athletics? Unknown! Swimming & Diving is a winter sport so Smith has not made a decision on that. They have suspended fall sports but there are some rules in place to potentially still allow practices. Lots of other sports have the opportunity to practice outside and swimming & diving do not so we’ll see how that goes! I have heard of teammates’ club swim teams physical distancing during practices so I am hopeful that I will be able to swim with some of my teammates in the fall!
Until then, I still have some more highlights from my first year that I will be documenting on here! Thanks for sticking around!
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