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february 2006 the stentorian | ncssm Drama students juggle personalities, time BY James Winder A s the sun sets on NC SSM following an af ternoon of class, drama students are often just beginning a regular evening of practice in the auditorium. The stage be comes scattered with colorful costumes, economic props, and tattered scripts while the buzzes of actors and actresses set a unique ambiance. “This is the time you can be whoever you want to be,” said senior Julia Lockamy, “and you forget your worries.” For most drama students, this is their only opportunity to take their mind off the dmdge of classes. Sometimes for hours at a time, students become im mersed in whatever character they happen to be playing. “But drama hasn’t changed me,” said senior Jake Rear don. “ft is me. It’s finalizing "But drama hasn't changed me. It is me." -Jake Reardon something I’ve been working on my entire life. I’ve been doing plays for as long as I can remember.” Most students involved with drama feel like Reardon and owe much of their enthusiasm to their heavy involve ment with plays be fore NCSSM. Now that Reardon is at this school, he has noticed a considerable change in the way he participates in plays. “My old musicals at home only had a piano,” Reardon said, “but here they’re real, with an orchestra and everything!” Zack Armfield, the supervisor of the drama program here, attributes much of its success as a group to the diligence of the students. Drama Board members Cort- ney Dahlgren and Ra chel Shauger directed the most recent produc tion, Titus Androni- cus. “They are dedicated enough as it is,” said Armfield. “Even without any support, they could come up with a production on their own. I just provide expe rience to channel that preexisting passioiL” Senior Alex Cole- Weiss was willing to admit the usefulness of Armfield’s “constructive criticism,” as she put it. “Yeah, Zack knows his Andy Marks, Cortney Dahlgren, Adam Drama Board production of You Can't Askren, Alex Cole-Weiss, and Keith Grose in the February Take It With You. stuff,” Cole-Weiss said, “but sometimes it all gets pretty demanding.” Nevertheless, Cole-Weiss had a hard time imagining herself apart from the school’s drama group. “Drama lets me devote ener gies to other things besides aca demics,” said Alex Cole-Weiss. “It’s a really good outlet, and I love it.” “We’re in the position to in fluence something that we feel very interested in,” Reardon said. “We couldn’t do it without the support of each other.” Of course, one wonders how students can devote time to drama when NCSSM already challenges the tight schedules of students without such an obligation. Indeed, a drama student would do well to have more than 24 hours in their day. “We try to multitask,” said Lockamy. “There’s a lot of homework off-stage, but it’s hard not to watch the practice when we’re all about drama and like to watch that sort of stuff.” The epitome of their time crunch happens the week before opening night of each play. where Drama students have to face the iiffamous “Hell Week.” “It was especially tough last year, when we had Hell Week every single time before exams,” said Lockamy. “You practice from 4:20 until 10:30 Monday through Friday.” However, Drama students agree that the large investment in time is worth it for the ex perience. “I recommend that all ju niors try out for a play. Don’t be intimidated, none of us are professionals, we’re just here to have fun,” said Lockamy. Hazing incidents unreported BY Max Rose I t was less than a month into school. “Do you want to try the ultimate sit-up?” a hallmate asked. As about ten people looked on, the junior, whose name will be kept anonymous for reasons of privacy, agreed to try it. The junior lay down on the ground in the sit-up position and one of his hall mates covered his eyes with a towel. He tried to do a sit-up, but could not. Finally, the towel was removed and he found himself right in the back side of a fellow junior. Out of 40 students randomly asked, 20% of females and 50% of males replied that they had directly witnessed hazing at NCSSM. Michael Newbauer, Director of Residential Life, said these figures did not surprise him. He said that eight to ten incidents of hazing have been reported to the administration in his five years at the school, varying in severity from embarrassment to a trip to the emergency room for a possible concussion. Joan Barber, Senior Vice President of Student Life, said tliat no hazing incidents were re ported in the 2004-2005 school year or in the current year. Newbauer said that most iix;i- dents of hazing are not reported because of a “code of silence” among the students. “It’s where the students only talk to each other and don’t tell adults on other students no matter what,” he said. He said that this happened because of the potential conse quences of telling the authori ties about a hazing incident. “People on campus are going to call them names and say that they don’t trust them,” New bauer said. “It’s going to make their life a little bit harder.” Newbauer defines hazing as an act that is done maliciously, a very broad meaning that can be interpreted in many differ ent ways. The junior said that he did not consider the “ultimate sit- up,” as it happened to him, to be hazing. He said that he thought of it as a joke. But others do not take the pranks so lightly. Senior Sung Kim said that in his junior year, a senior took a liandful of flour and smeared it all over him while he was sleep ing. Kim said that the incident made him angry at first. The flour was very tough to get out of his clothes, he said, because when washed, it turned into dough. Kim said that he got over being “floured,” and is now friends with the graduated hallmate. Newbauer said that to reduce hazing the administra tion must crack down on the “enablers,” students who wit ness the incidents. He also said that educating about hazing is important: the Student Life 101 class, which is required for all juniors, does a unit on the is sue. Resident Life Assistants (RLAs) receive training which emphasizes the prevention of hazing. Barber said that the number of reported incidents of hazing has significantly decreased from five years ago, although no data is available from that time. Barber said that an emphasis on the NCSSM Code of Student Conduct, which can be found on page eight of the student handbook, is a primary reason for this decrease. At NCSSM, hazing is considered a form of liarrassment. But, she said, tliat is not enough. “If one student is ever hazed and we don’t know about it, it is serious.” Guest policy changed jGliei^coiitinueilfrompagel volunteer to host interested sophomores for a night during a designated weekend to give them a taste of the NCSSM experience. Although students have heard nothing but rumors and a single vague announcement at the Code of Conduct meetings early in the first trimester sparse of details, there are mixed feel ings. Some think that it is an unfair rule and that they should not lose the privilege on account of a few isolated incidents. “The idea has no legitimate issue,” Senior Patrick McKin ney said. “They claim that it’s liability but guests can still be on campus from after the last class until first check.” The administration maintains its decision, however. “We don’t want to lose the com munity aspect but we want to have data for any non-NCSSM student staying on campus over night,” Barber said. Research mandated by NCSSM Board continued rrom page 1 doing research is to pursue an interesting question, while 26% say that they just want to com ply with the mandatory gradua tion requirement. Another 28% would do research to add it to their college resume. Some students doubt whether colleges would be impressed by mandatory research. “When everyone is required to do something, the people who might liave been outstanding won’t really stand out any more,” Morris said. Board Despite student concerns, the research requirement will be instituted at NCSSM. The Board of Trustees has mandated this project. Now it is only a question of time. "This is where the direction of education is going. The opportuniff of a research ex perience would provide basic skills to build a foundation for doing research. In a decade, it’s going to be like keyboard ing, something that everyone everywhere knows how to do,” Clavton said.
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