Eva Ginns
Arts Scholar
Semester 1
Going into the fall semester, I had pretty low expectations. With everything online I did not expect to have an enriching experience. I was surprised by how effective my courses were this semester and now that we are almost done, I realize how much I managed to learn. I did not expect so many small assignments, and while it sometimes felt like I was doing busy work, ultimately my university courses exceeded my expectations and I felt genuinely excited to get out of my bed and log onto zoom.
So far, I have taken ARTT100, Fundamentals of 2D design, as an Arts supporting course as well as CMSC101, Introduction to Immersive Media, which is counting towards my intended major. CMSC101 is definitely my favorite course that I have taken and strongly relates to CPSA, both of which have centered around understanding how different forms of art and media can be influential in societal change. Both challenged my beliefs and pushed me to look at things I felt I was already familiar with, but from new perspectives. However, I think that CMSC101 was more successful than CPSA in adapting to the new online format. While I have enjoyed CPSA, I often left the colloquium feeling farther away from everyone and feeling more disconnected from the material than when I went into the class. The field trips especially reinforced this, as they did not translate well, feeling more like a fleeting attempt at trying to hold onto past experiences, rather than creating new ones. However, I did get to see many people in TA groups and that was a nice break from my large lectures where no one has their cameras on. So in that regard, CPSA did provide the sense of community I was looking for when I decided to be a part of it.
Living at home, university life does not reflect how I envisioned it would be. While my classes are rigorous and I enjoy the content, I feel that the connections and memories I was expecting to make were not achievable. To me, college has always been about learning from experiences and getting to be on your own for the first time, so while it has not been the experience I expected this semester, I think next semester when I am on campus it will more closely reflect what I was hoping for. The university’s response to COVID has generally met my expectations, but I do think that will change when I am more connected to the campus in the spring.
Looking back on my first semester, the most impactful thing I learned from Art Scholars was how to collaborate with a team digitally. Through making our podcast, I learned how to organize and communicate with people I had never met before and we created a final product that I am really proud of. Going into a collaboration and tech based field, these are definitely skills I will need to use on a daily basis in the future, so I am grateful I was able to begin developing them through the podcast assignment.
I am very excited to see what the Spring semester holds.
Semester 2
The second semester of my freshman year was a bit underwhelming. Despite being on campus, I was still stuck to zoom screens for most of the day, every day. However, there were some positives that definitely shined through. While I was not able to build relationships with faculty members due to large class sizes and digital limitations, I really enjoyed the classes I took, especially IMDM150. This course in particular kept me engaged with school, in a semester where I frequently wanted to give up.
The adjustment to school was difficult because it was hard to meet people initially. However, I made many new friends by the end of the semester, mainly through Arts Scholars. While we do not have a lot in common when it comes to Arts, we shared playlists and were connected through the music we listen to. The greatest obstacles in pursuing these relationships were all COVID related, as I always had to leave some attention to making sure we were maintaining the proper distance and protocol, rather than fully living in the moment and making connections. As far as freshmen next year, I think it is important to try to talk to people you do not think you have much in common with, they may turn out to be more similar to you than you thought. So far, Arts Scholars has not felt like it fosters much community, the Arts Scholars I am friends with I only met due to proximity in our dorm building. However, the program has influenced me to expand my idea of what Arts is, especially after participating in my second semester workshop. I will contribute to the Arts Scholars community in the future by being a peer mentor in the fall, which I am very excited about.
Overall, I think the most beneficial part of this program for me was the pentathlon requirements. I really enjoyed finding events to attend, even if they were virtual, and I enjoyed the conversations I had about them afterwards with my peers. Had we not been required to do this, I think it would have taken me much longer to get involved outside of my circle of friends and learn more about what UMD and other organizations have to offer artistically. I think the best way for incoming Scholars to get the most out of the program would be to ask questions. I found a lot of different really interesting events simply by reaching out and asking “What event is this?”. I know it is difficult, but the main thing I learned this semester is that if you advocate for yourself and speak up, your time at UMD and in Scholars will be much more full.
Semester 3
After a semester of working on my capstone proposal, I do not know if I have learned a lot from being in Scholars, other than working constructively with feedback. I do feel like I know how to better incorporate feedback into my work, specifically how to ask better questions about my own projects to get the type of feedback that I want. This, coupled with the Arts supporting courses I took this semester (Artt 255, Artt 210, and Artt 200), have given me a solid foundation going into the final semester of this program. Artt 200 especially is giving me the skills I need for creating my capstone as it is centered around 3D construction.
Outside of academics, I have learned a lot about leadership through being a Peer Mentor for my fellow Arts Scholars. By having to plan events for my mentees, I have learned a lot about new types of organization and coordinating activities. Aside from being a peer mentor however, most of the sophomore Arts Scholars do not live on the same side of campus as Bel Air Hall, so I do not feel as though I am truly experiencing the living part of the living-learning community. As my first year was on zoom, this felt like a rather disappointing reintroduction to the program and I do not know if I would want to continue with it if I was not this far into the year.
Semester 4
My pentathlons over the course of the two years I have spent in the Art Scholars program, show a lot of growth in my interests, and how I have pushed myself to explore media that I am not as familiar with. As the reflections become more recent, looking back I can see how I started going more out of my way to find events that were outside of Scholars. I do not think my perception of art has changed much over the course of this program, I feel like I have had a very well-rounded background when it comes to art. However, seeing the transition between digital art events like a zoom poetry slam, and in person events like the field trip to Artechouse, helped me to better recognize that sometimes the format of an art event does make up the full experience.
My capstone project did not draw from Arts Scholars, but drew from my arts supporting courses (2D, digital, and 3D art). These courses provided me with the background and skills I needed to create my final project. Artt300 (Fundamentals of 3D Design) especially helped me, as it gave me practice with cutting and constructing cardboard, something that featured prominently in my capstone. These courses also helped push me as an artist, as I learned to use power tools and software that I previously was not familiar with. However, the Arts Scholars course itself did not deepen my artistic interests or talents, and I took these classes along with other design courses mainly for my major.
Looking back, I really did not collaborate with other Arts Scholars. Whether it was the nature of my interests, personal conflicts that prevented me from attending some classes, or the way the class was formatted, I can’t think of any collaborative examples other than making a podcast in the first semester of freshman year. However, even for that project, each of us worked separately and then just pieced the sections together.
Overall, I do not think my Scholars experience will affect me in the future. While I appreciate the connections I made with my program professors, I often felt like I was not learning anything, or in the case of my capstone, doing an independent study with my major. Professionally, I will remember to always follow through as I did with Arts Scholars, even if I am unsure if I am receiving any benefit from what I am doing.