I did tons of other random things. Well, not so random, I suppose.
The beginning of the semester started slow for me. I barely had any schoolwork and, therefore, I did not know what do to with my newly-found free time. (Free time?! What is that?) And so, crazy ol’ me signed up for 10,000 different activities and they all came crashing down at the same time. But for what it was worth, it was totally worth it.
I participated in:
- the Brooklyn College Honors Academy Art Committee
- SING!
- Macaulay Honors Snapshot Day Event
- and Housing Works Thrift Shop volunteering (which I already covered).
Brooklyn College Honors Academy Art Committee
The Art Committee works to decorate the walls of the Honors Academy with artworks submitted by fellow Honors students. Being a fellow art enthusiast, I decided to join. What better way than to cure my boredom, meet new people, and sculpt my resume! On the Committee (in which I still participate), I am a curator and an event planner. Every month or so, the Art Committee announces a theme. Brooklyn College Honors students are then encouraged to submit their artworks in accordance to the theme by the deadline. After all the artworks are submitted, as a curator, I work with my fellow curators to mount the artworks and display them in a fashionable manner! And as an event planner, I work with other event planners to carry out the activity that follows the opening of the show. At the opening of the show, the artists who have submitted pieces come to the Honors Academy and talk about their pieces to an audience of fellow artists, interested students, and supportive faculty members. After all the artists have presented their pieces, everyone participates in the scheduled activity. Past themes: Urban, Nature, and Childhood-Inspired Art. Past activities: Taking photos of urban art throughout the week on disposable cameras, a scavenger hunt, and holiday card-making for hospitalized children.
I actually submitted some pieces to the last show, Childhood-Inspired Art. (You know, because I dabble in the arts.)
SING!
SING! is a competition where students create a musical from scratch and compete with one another. This competition was originally between grades in NYC public high schools. However, this year, Macaulay Honors took up the competition and instead of grades competing against one another, campuses competed against one another. I played a Twitter Bird in Brooklyn College’s musical about two students who wake up to find themselves trapped in a mysterious world, the Internet. To escape, they join forces with MySpace, YouTube, and Hulu to take down the dictator, Mark Zuckerberg. Other characters include: Twitter birds, eBay, spam (the junk mail kind), LOLcat, and trolls (the Internet kind).
I had a great time participating in the production and I’m sure the audience had a great time watching us perform. This was my first involvement in a musical and it was quite splendid! This was a fantastic use of my free time.
Macaulay Snapshot Day Event
Each year, Macaulay has an event called Snapshot Day. On October 11th, all freshmen students take a picture of “their New York.” Then, a group of students volunteer to curate the Snapshot Day exhibition. I was one of the few who volunteered. Although I had to commute far to the Macaulay building for late night meetings and preparations, it was a worthwhile experience. I worked with peers to design an exhibition in the most interesting and appealing manner. In just a few short months, we worked diligently and produced what I believe to be a success! Many of the sub-themes my peers curated were completely out-of-the-box…yet spectacular! Our overarching theme was 11 Bridges. Some sub-themes included Nature, Transportation, Night and Day, Fashion, and Water. Here are some photos of the exhibit:
