Events – College Admission at Loyola

Presidential Scholarship & Acafriendzy

By | March 25, 2012

Friday night was a busy, but fun, night for me.

It was one of those times when my Event Manager job for the Department of Fine and Performing Arts coincided with my job with the Undergraduate Admissions Office and my social life.

I was contacted by one of the Undergraduate Admissions Counselors, Suzannah Magnuson, a while ago asking if I could help with the audio support for their presidential scholar reception. It was a weird role conflict because I work for her department, but the job she was asking me to do was out of the scope of my job description. Instead it landed within the scope of my event work for the DFPA. But we figured out the best way to arrange payment and it was no problem. Sometimes the system works.

Anyway, I was later contacted by a representative of three of Loyola’s a Capella groups. They were putting on a combined concert in the Auditorium and were in need of sound assistance. Once again I agreed to help, and that’s when things got rough: both events were on the same day.

This did have it’s advantages, however. Even though the events were back to back with little time in between for setup, I was able to do a little work before the Undergraduate Admissions Event kicked off. Once again I had problems locating microphones, and it seems as if the wind shields for some of the microphones have disappeared, but I found enough various mics to set up a working solution.

The presidential scholarship reception went off without a hitch (plus I got to enjoy some of the great catering!) and then the Acafriendzy show went exceptionally well, given the circumstances (little set-up time, missing equipment). I even got a cupcake out of the Acafriendzy group too!

A lot of work, but totally worth it. The concert was great and I’m always glad to help out when my skills match the needs of some other group.

Events on Campus

By | March 16, 2012

As a Senior, I acknowledge that the perspective may not be the most relevant to the readers of this blog. After all, the Undergraduate Admissions Office’s primary audience is prospective Freshman. But I think that my perspective after an “average lifespan” of a Loyola student can be helpful. They say hindsight it 20/20, and I am in a unique position to see my time at Loyola more clearly than others.

Which brings me to the subject of this blog’s post: on campus events. If there is one thing I regret it is not going to as many on campus events as I could have. My advice to incoming Freshman and underclassmen is to make a habit of going to events that may not interest you.

As somebody who hosts events on a professional level I can tell you that there’s no such thing as an uninteresting event. The amount of work, time and planning that goes into hosting an event on campus is great enough that you are guaranteed to have an enlightening experience.

I believe I can say with confidence that I have enjoyed every event I attended on campus and that I never left an event saying, “Well, I got nothing out of that.”

A lot of events offer free food, t-shirts or other prizes just for showing up. So that is reason enough to go. But the content is what will make you stay. At Loyola you will be at the center of a multicultural, multidisciplinary contingent of ideas and activities. That experience is unlikely to be duplicated any time soon.

So don’t make excuses such as, “I do not have time today,” or “I will start going to more events later.” Because I can tell you, you will always feel like you’re too busy, and you will always put it off, if you don’t make it a habit not to do so early.

I’ve listened to famous philosophers speak, heard great music from Loyola’s a cappella groups, tasted amazing middle eastern food, learned about the fascinating culture surrounding political cartoons, learned how educators are trying to improve my college experience and more. Each time I go to an event I leave knowing more about a part of the world that until then I had no idea even existed.

College events will open you up and pleasantly surprise you, if you let them. So just give them the chance, you won’t get it again.