Symposium and Art!

When I think back on my freshman year, I fondly remember my second semester on campus. I was finally use to everything at Coe and was was beginning to find my niche on campus. I was becoming more confident about who I was and my spot in the academic world at Coe. One of my favorite days of the second semester was Student Symposium. It's a day where all classes are canceled and we celebrate the hard work of our peers who have completed research, projects, paper, art, and more during the past year. I remember the day being incredibly academically stimulating and being inspired by everything and everyone. If you want to hear what I actually said, check out this post from way back in April 2011 (it's it great I've had my blog for this long to reference past posts?). Also, I think it's great that the plenary talk was given by Allison Carr, who will be joining the faculty this fall in the Rhetoric Department.

When I left Symposium Day way back in 2011, I was motivated to be one of the students presenting when I was a senior. My dream was fulfilled about a week ago. Not only did I present once, but actually twice, on two projects I've been working on all year.

But before the presentation, we had the plenary talk. This time around it was Drew Davies '05 (a Coe grad, same year as Allison Carr actually) who is a graphic designer. His speech was titled "Design for Democracy" because Drew's big project is helping to revamp the ballots we receive when we go to the polls to vote. Who knew so much thought goes into ballots, but in some ways, it makes sense. A clear ballot, with articulate instructions allow for a smoother voting process, fewer mistakes, and hopefully lowers the anxiety levels of the citizens. Drew's talk was fascinating and he had some good visuals (of course) to enhance the talk.

We had a lunch in the Clark Alumni House for those who had presented and then in the afternoon, I gave my two talks. They were back to back which was both fun and terrifying. I first spoke on Mary Robinson, focusing on how I completed my research (especially when I got to see neat things at the New York Public Library) and then what my paper was about. My second presentation was on a memoir piece I've been writing that is my capstone project of my writing minor. I read a few sections from the manuscript, which covers my time at Coe. Both presentations went really well and it was so nice to see so many friends and professors in the audience to support me!

My Symposium Day ended with a trip over to Butchers Block with Chloe, Millie, Alison P., and even my thesis advisor, Melissa. We just had a mini-celebration and it was nice to relax and unwind for a bit. Chloe and Melissa had organized it and it was so thoughtful; truly a great way to end my day.

I also remember freshman year, talking to my friend Haley about her final project. As an art major, Haley creates a show and it's displayed in the Sinclair Galleries (to the left and right of Sinclair Auditorium). The same week as Symposium Day, Haley's art gallery opened. Her exhibit was so neat and so quintessentially Haley. She had tried to take at least one photo a day for 365 days and this gallery showed off those photos. She ended up hanging her photos and movement became a huge part of how the gallery functioned and how the guests interacted with the art. It was so cool to see Haley in her element and her gallery is so neat. I grabbed a few photos she took of it and included them below (they were too interesting to not put on my blog!). Walking through her gallery reminded me of all our adventures during the past four years and to see her come full circle from talking about creating an art exhibit to having one was a great moment to witness.

I had such a great week showing off my hard work and seeing the hard work of others. I hope that underclassmen had similar experiences to what I had freshman year and were inspired with all they could accomplish and do during their time at Coe!

L to R: Alison P., Haley, and Hailley

The gallery (isn't it neat?!) 

So. Many. Photos. 

Entering the gallery