PENTATHLON SEMESTER 1

For my second pentathlon event, I decided to watch a documentary film on Netflix entitled Tell Me Who I Am, which tells the story of a pair of twins--one of whom experiences amnesia during adolescence and must rely on his brother to reconstruct memories of their somewhat troubled childhood. The twin with the intact memory decides that it is best that his brother doesn't remember how they were abused as children and instead tells of an idyllic childhood, however, this causes problems later in life when the twin with amnesia finds out that everything he thought he knew about himself was based on lies. This film was incredibly thought-provoking because, for most people, the idea of losing all of your memories and therefore your entire identity is very difficult to grapple with. It also has some connection to my major (sociology) because it discusses how we construct our identity and how that is influenced by our lived experiences. #Film

Recently, I helped plan and attended a Halloween-themed origami event hosted by the Arts Advisory Board. In elementary school, I learned how to do some extremely basic origami (such as making a cup) but never really progressed much further than that. I was always impressed with the people who were able to make paper cranes and turtles but it seemed very intimidating and clearly required a lot of precision. That is why I was so excited to participate in this AAB event; it was the perfect opportunity to be walked through some really cool origami, step-by-step, in a no-pressure environment where almost everyone else was a beginner as well. Obviously, construction paper is not the best for doing this kind of art so my bat and pumpkin weren’t as pristine as I’d hoped, but this was a really fun experience that proved to me that anyone can learn a new art/craft if they want to! I also feel like that sentiment connects very deeply to Arts Scholars in general because there is so much encouragement to try new things within this program. #VisualArt

This October, I attended a “virtual career chat” with alumni from the College of Arts and Humanities at UMD who are now employed at different museums across the country. Although I am majoring in sociology under the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, I am minoring in arts leadership and am very interested in pursuing a career related to museums or other arts-related institutions. I learned so much from hearing about each of these individuals’ experiences and the conversation ranged from panelists’ experiences as undergraduates, finding internships, networking, applying for full-time positions, and considering graduate school. They also discussed their day-to-day responsibilities at their respective museums which was fascinating to hear about since each of them have performed vastly different duties, ranging from curatorial work to public affairs and more administrative operations. Though I still can’t say for certain exactly what type of job I want to pursue after graduation, this career chat was extremely beneficial in that it provided a lot of honest advice about what to expect in the arts administration/cultural institution field and all of the panelists were once in my shoes as a student at Maryland. #Presentation

(Note: I would have taken a screenshot while attending the Zoom event but one of the panelists requested that the session not be recorded so I wanted to respect their privacy!) 

For my fifth and final pentathlon event of the semester, I helped plan and attended an Arts Advisory Board event over Zoom entitled “Chill with a Quill.” The event was intended to be a relaxing break amid a very busy and stressful time during the semester. We started the event by sharing a few poems, some of which were winter-related. I shared “Winter Poem” by Nikki Giovanni with the group. Then, we offered several writing prompts for people to engage in during the Arthouse; participants were encouraged to write a poem inspired by the works shared at the beginning of the event or to draft a letter to their future selves reflecting on their lives currently. I chose the latter option and I found it to be an extremely cathartic experience. This year has been extremely challenging, particularly when it came to staying on top of school work and reeling from the death of a loved one over the summer. Suffice to say, I had no shortage of things to write about. I wasn’t especially keen to share my exact writing with my peers but I appreciated that the event ended in breakout groups where we could discuss the prompts we chose and why. Little experiences like these are what makes Scholars still feel like a community, even if we’re all just staring through computer screens from our bedrooms at home. #Literature