A Greater Cause

This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to assist with a Field Day that was held on Erskine’s campus. This special day was filled with smiles as local schools allowed children from their special needs classes to come and enjoy an afternoon with college students, many of whom are education majors. While I was only able to help at the last minute, Epsilon worked extremely hard to prepare for this event and offered a fun-filled day of activities for students of all ages.

After eating lunch in the Pavilion, students were able to travel to various stations to decorate puppets, play with bubbles, have their face painted, and so much more. I throughly enjoyed working with students as they decorated puppets. The  imagination of children always intrigues me as they are so open and free in their creations. Watching them work and develop their ideas serves as a reminder and great inspiration to think outside of the ordinary and engage in unique experiences.

Although I always enjoy working with children, spending the day serving these special students is a real treat that touches my heart. Working with those who must try much harder at things than I do reminds me to be grateful for my talents and abilities and to thank God for all that he has given me. Each child has his own unique assets to offer the world and I enjoy helping to discover them, as children often help me to discover things about myself. Working for this greater cause is a magnificent community experience and Angela Schwindt, an Oregon mom and teacher, sums it up perfectly in her statement, “While we try and teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

Post Recital Reflections

What a rewarding feeling when all of the work that you have put into something finally comes to fruition.  This afternoon, after months of preparation, I performed my junior recital; now my family has left and I am sitting in my room watching an opera, soon to be getting ready for the Ball this evening.  Is it really over?  It just seems so surreal.

Granted, I should know this feeling by now, because I have been involved in so many musical and theatrical productions that I should expect it.  However, somehow this sadness at the end of every recital, concert, play, musical, opera, or other production still surprises me every time.

For my recital, putting together an hour of music after returning from Spain was a bit of a challenge because I wasn’t able to do much work in the fall semester on my pieces.  There were foreign language pieces to memorize, high notes to work up to, ornaments to run over and over again, complicated accompaniments to collaborate with, and also just details like writing my program and planning the reception.  Luckily, with a lot of practice, an excellent voice teacher, and a talented accompanist who was willing to work extra with me, I was able to put the program together for a performance that I was truly proud of.

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I wrote that first half on Saturday, but I thought it would be good to keep and use it, even though I am finishing out this entry two days later.

Monday mornings I have my voice lesson, and after working just a little bit, we gave my voice a rest and started talking about my recital next year – after all, it is never too early to begin planning!  My voice teacher took more and more song books off of her shelf, creating quite a pile, and we just sat down at the piano and sort of sang through a few different songs, discussing what types of pieces I wanted to sing next year.  More Spanish? – I do love Spanish.  Some Czech?  She is from the Czech Republic, so it is a great opportunity to do some different repertoire.  French?  Well, I did not have any this year, so why not?  And so it went, and I left with several books to start looking through.

So after a couple of days life goes on as usual, though my semester is far from being finished.  This weekend we have the opera workshop performances, so right now I am just getting ready for the next event!  Ah, the life of a musician. . . as much as it can get stressful and just kind of crazy with all the rehearsals, preparation, and general time commitment, when it actually comes time to get up on stage and do it, I remember every time why I love performing and decided to be a music major.

Relay for Life

Do you know someone who has even been affected by cancer? Chances are that you do because today the National Cancer Institute estimates that 8 million people have a history of cancer. These statistics show why Erskine places a great deal of emphasis on raising money for Relay for Life! From individual societies to the campus as a whole, fundraisers and events make the community aware of this great cause while also raising money to help support the fight against cancer!

As a member of the Athenian Literary Society, I am proud to have taken part in hosting the annual Miss Erskine Pageant which raises money for Relay. Each society is asked to have one girl represent them through participation in the pageant. Admission fees as well as general admission assisted us in gaining great support for this fight. This week we will also see the activities of Greek vs. Geek week ending with the Relay for Life walk on Friday.

Miss Erskine Pageant 2011

If you have never taken it upon yourself to support this cause, you should definitely reconsider. Whether it is donating money or just showing up to support those who are fighting the battle, taking part in Relay for Life is a great way to support not only your community but also your world.

Sick Days

I am absolutely loving my college experience here at Erskine. Even so, some things are just not the same at college as they are at home–one of which is getting sick.

Although being ill is never pleasant, being sick at college is, as I quickly discovered, generally bereft of those comforts provided at home by my mother’s solicitous care, sympathy, and medical advice. While I may be exempt from certain tasks (such as cleaning the kitchen or going to work) when I’m sick at home, no such luxury is available during the school year…unless, of course, I’m willing to miss a class. Which of course, I would never want to do, lest I miss key information that would leave my liberal arts education sorely lacking or *cough, might show up on a test.*

Consequently, even the common cold becomes a challenging burden when it descends upon one during the school year. Gone are the days of being handed chicken soup by the mother who then kindly sets up a vaporizer in the bedroom and buys another box of Sudafed PM. Instead, one must go to class, take tests, and work as best one can, despite a raging headache and running nose. Of course, I suppose that being sick as a college student is simply part of growing up since…well, when adults are sick (bar some highly contagious, debilitating illness), they simply carry on business as usual.

And, to be entirely fair, though there’s no place like home for the sick soul, friends here at Erskine are amazingly caring and helpful when one is sick. Last year, for example, when I was terribly ill with some flu-like ailment, replete with a high fever, my friend Amber essentially took on the role of mother for the week. She brought me food (since I wasn’t up to traveling anywhere to eat meals), checked on me frequently, and made sure I got air every once in a while. Another friend was kind enough to share the riches of her medicine cabinet with me, and I was feeling better far more quickly than I would have otherwise, thanks to the kind care of my friends.

Getting well, I’ve found, requires something which is a very rare commodity for the college study—namely, sleep. Since the struggle to balance living healthily, thriving academically, and having a social life is one which we all experience in life, I am amused by G.K. Chesterton’s remark that “[t]he trouble with always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind.” Indeed, holistic health is no easy attainment. But if every aspect of life is interconnected (as the liberally-educated philosopher would argue), and if all of life is under the rule of a sovereign God, then what can better equip us for a life of balance than faithful adherence the principles of Scripture? Holistic health, here I come!