Opinion
Students Should Attend CSA Day
By Shae-Lynn Henderson, Staff Writer
Celebrating Student
Achievement (CSA) Day at Mer
edith College is a day full of pre
sentations, performances and
ceremonies to celebrate the won
derful student body and their
accomplishments. However, many
students see CSA Day as just a day
off of classes. CSA Day is incredibly
important to our peers and show
ing up for them is imperative.
CSA Day at Meredith Col
lege vdll be hosted on April 7 in a
hybrid format. After being online
for the past two years, there will be
somewhat of a return to normalcy
with a vast array of events to at
tend.
With CSA Day being such a
long-standing tradition at Meredith
and it being somewhat rare in com
parison to other schools, I found it
surprising how few students, par
ticularly freshmen, knew about the
event and how even fewer planned
on attending.
I remember being a pro
spective student last April and be
ing able to celebrate the day virtu
ally while living in South Africa. It
was absolutely fascinating finding
departments that interested me
and learning something new about
different topics. It seems only fit
ting to now attend in person and
enjoy celebrating fellow students’
achievements.
In many ways, it’s under
standable why so few would be in
attendance—no one seems to know
what or when it is and students
have the opportunity to take ad
vantage of a day off from classes
and campus activities.
I am sure I can attest for
many when I say it has been a
whirlwind of a semester. Time
seems to simultaneously be go
ing fast and slow as well as being
stressful, which has left many spin
ning heads. Who can keep track of
days and time and not use the day
to catch up on some much needed
sleep or work?
With that said, in many
ways that makes me want to attend
even more. Students partaking
in CSA Day have spent so much
CSA Day’s Hybrid Presentation Format
By Ally Cefalu, A&E Editor
energy and time in their research,
performances and work. Feeling
the same academic pressure as
everyone else, it would be a shame
for their achievements not to be
appreciated to their fullest extent.
I find the thought of cheer
ing my friends and classmates on
as they explore something they are
passionate about to be a truly re
warding experience. It is a great op
portunity for growth. I think of the
opportunities to not only grow as
a student in the pursuit of knowl
edge, but also to grow my circle of
people with similar interests. CSA
Day is a great time to meet people
in the same field as you who can
help navigate your field of interest.
There is no reason why a
balance cannot be found between
rest, work and supporting your
peers. The whole day does not need
to be spent at CSA Day. One can
review the schedule, attend what
ever appeals to them and there
after spend the day however they
choose. For many students, this
will be their first mostly in-person
Doesn’t Benefit Students
CSA Day, so I think it would be
beneficial to experience the normal
version at least once. Don’t make
an assumption about the event
until you have experienced it. If it's
enjoyable, there are many to come
in the future to enjoy as well, but if
not, you do not have to go again.
The benefit goes far beyond
that of participants and is useful
to attendees. By the time Meredith
students graduate, 51% conduct
undergraduate research in partner
ship with faculty mentors. While it
may seem daunting, attending CSA
Day can give invaluable insight into
how one could become involved
in research or deeper learning in a
content area
CSA Day is filled with the
excitement and exhilaration of
celebrating student achievement.
Find balance and carve out at least
a fraction of time to spend grow
ing as a student, individual and
community in attending the day’s
event. In a day filled with apprecia
tion, let’s choose to appreciate this
wonderful opportunity together.
As a senior, I have seen
one in-person and two virtual CSA
Days. Presenting an oral presenta
tion my freshman year was a chal
lenging yet rewarding experience,
and I’m glad I had the chance to
share the research I was and still
am so passionate about.
When I presented in
person, I worked closely with my
faculty advisor to rehearse within
the time limit, add slides at the
end of my presentation for po
tential questions and project my
voice to an audience. Each of these
skills has helped me gain confi
dence both inside and outside the
classroom as I’ve worked on many
more presentations throughout
my undergraduate career.
Now that CSA Day is occur
ring in a hybrid format, I feel that
students do not have the opportu-
have been so difficult to practice
over the last few years. This year,
oral presentations are pre-record
ed, posted on Meredith’s CSA Day
YouTube page and then presenta
tions are watched during sessions
throughout the day on April 7 with
a live question and answer session.
If groups of students, fac
ulty and guests will be gathering in
classrooms to watch the presenta
tions, why can’t students present
in person? I consider myself very
conscious of the hazards presented
by COVID-19 and suspect this
might be why the presenters are
not speaking live. Yes, it is a poten
tial risk to remain in a classroom
with a large number of people for
an entire presentation session. But
it makes no difference whether or
not you are in the room present
ing, or in the room sitting and
watching a recorded presentation.
nity to catch up on these skills that
Too Many Traditions, Too Little Time
By Elinor Shelp-Peck, Co-Editor in Chief
Due to the COVID-19
pandemic, many Meredith Col
lege traditions have been canceled,
modified or postponed. This has
greatly impacted many Meredith
students’ experiences, especially at
a school that values traditions so
highly. Given the recent alterations
to Meredith’s on-campus COV-
ID-19 policies, the College now has
a chance to make up for the missed
traditions. However, this does not
necessarily mean they need to.
As a senior, I have missed
out on quite a few monumental
Meredith traditions, such as an in-
person Ring Dinner, Tea For Two
and multiple Stunts and Formats.
Granted, I did have a full year
and a semester on campus and
was able to fully participate in our
freshman year traditions, like Fire
and Water.
When I heard Meredith
was planning on trying to make
up the seniors’ Ring Dinner I had
mixed emotions. If you told me
a year and a half ago that I could
make-up Ring Dinner I probably
would have been elated, but at this
point, I have mostly accepted our
Ring Dinner for the diluted version
I think it would have been possible
for Meredith to require masks only
for CSA Day, and then return to the
current Community Standards the
day after. This would have given
students an opportunity to practice
their oral presentation skills which
I believe are so valuable.
During the pandemic,
Meredith did a great job of making
sure that students were still able to
present their information through
a YouTube channel. I almost felt
that my research would reach
more people on the internet than
it would in a presentation room in
Ledford. But what was obviously
missing from the virtual CSA expe
rience was the development of live
presentation skills.
The virtual submission of
presentation videos also adds ad
ditional work to students who are
already feeling the pressure of the
of the event that it was. Despite
these alterations, I still got to
spend time with my friends, dress
up, take fun pictures and wear my
onyx.
Additionally, another
qualm that I have with shoving
all of the missed traditions into
the second half of the semester
is burnout. At this point of the
semester, I am feeling relatively
burnt out and overextended, as
I am sure many others are too.
However, as a senior I feel almost
obligated to participate in all of
these last minute events prior to
spring semester. While learning
how to fluently use Zoom record
ing technology is important in
this new age, taking the time to
create a presentation and record
it (sometimes with multiple
takes) is often more tedious than
presenting to a live audience.
It is important that as we
safely ease back into in-person
events, students are encouraged
to practice public speaking and
presentation skills that are neces
sary beyond college. CSA Day is
a safe and encouraging place for
this to begin for students who
have been getting by with virtual
presentations for the past two
years. By having students record
their oral presentations, the
College is doing them a disser
vice and not pushing students to
develop important skills.
graduation. Inevitably, this will
just exacerbate the problem, espe
cially with the seniors’ 22nd Night
happening immediately after Ring
Dinner.
On March 29, the Class of
2022 received an email from Casey
Corpening, senior class president,
on behalf of the Office for Student
Leadership and Service. This email
included a list of 14 traditions or
events that will take place between
March 29 and May 14, 2022. Not
only is this overwhelming, but I
feel they are unnecessary.
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