An Academic Convocation and an Apocolypse

To fulfil some community service hours, I volunteered to help at the Academic Excellence Convocation in April. I signed up to help with no idea what to expect, and ended up awed at the ceremony, and finding that I was really enjoying myself.

My job was quite simple. I got to stand outside a door to the upstairs balcony, hand out programs, greet people, and seat people. I worked with a very sweet Midway student. I guessed she was in the honors program because the other volunteers were all in the honors program, but she carried herself very modestly, and I would not have guessed that she was an honors scholar otherwise. I really liked her, and when there weren’t many people around, I asked about what she wanted to do and which college she came from. I think that meeting and working with her was the highlight of the event.

 The program

The programs were very bulky, and there were a lot of people sitting down before the boxes of programs even arrived. But the job was relatively easy. The honor and the incredible formality of the event was entrancing. I only know a couple of this year’s seniors personally, but I could not help being excited and proud of their accomplishment. Everyone in the honors college feels like my family. And one day, I will be in their shoes.

Later in April, to get extra credit for my honors dance class, I went to see Mr. Burns, a play directed by Cara Harker. It was very well done, the actors were incredibly talented, the effects were jaw-dropping, the story was clear, and the whole play was slightly traumatizing, but that was ok. I went and had some ice cream afterwards.

The play is set in during what is, essentially, the apocalypse: the US lost electricity, so the nuclear power plants started blowing up. A group of characters sit around and try to remember a Simpsons episode. The group later becomes a very successful acting troupe, and though people are dying constantly and the country is in anarchy, they tour around and act out this Simpsons episode. The last act is set 75 years later, and shows how the story in this Simpsons episode has evolved.

ETSU has a very high quality theatre department. I was truly amazed at the ability of the performers and of everyone else involved. I don’t think I will go back and watch any more plays though, unless I’ve heard about them before.