Well, I've gone to my official first thespian festival.
IT WAS AMAZING.
Well the drive over may have been a little long, but I knew that it would be completely worth it. When I arrived on campus I was immediately put to work! I met up with Brianna Brooks (a thespian alumn) who helped to guide the STO to open up the festival with excitement and preparedness by doing the whole spiel of the rules for festival, introducing our guests, and then going to do connection circles. They were also very kind in letting me join the STO in their opening and letting me take a HUGE SELFIE (or rather a vine) WITH ALL OF THE MAINE THESPIANS!!! While also leading my own connection circle (and getting to know all of their spirit animals!).
I also took a picture with the STO (Feirce!)
Sadly I didn't have the opportunity to lead my advocacy workshop [u_u,], I still had the opportunity to do my leadership workshop! If I compare this session to the leadership workshop that I led in Michigan (which had about 80+ students), this time around you would consider it quite small... Okay quite
tiny, but that has nothing to do with the amount of stuff we got done in the workshop. It was slightly a shock because I had all of these activities planned out where they would get up a get into big groups, but instead we did much more toned down and reflective activities. I felt that all of the students were very comfortable in sharing and discussing things that were concerning them in their futures pertaining to leadership. It was ranging from being a thespian president and planning events for her troupe to being a film director as his career to just trying to be more outgoing while she's in college. It was very inspiring how these students really had really figured themselves out and really understood what they wanted to get out of my workshop.
Setting goals is an extremely important.
Both in leadership and in life I've learned that setting goals is vital. Being goal oriented really helps you to know why you want to do certain things and what you're hoping to get out of it. One of my goals as an ITO was to really learn from the places and the people I visit so I can truly understand how theatre impacts certain individuals and how it can even branch off into other fields of study. I want to really understand the importance of theatre, and why I'm so
hooked!
But back to the festival!
After my workshop I (obviously) took a picture, and look how glorious they all are because of the glare from the sun. SO FABULOUS!
Then there was the closing ceremony. We saw a performance of Spring Awakening by the college students there, and we got on the stage to announce the scholarship winners, best of fests and the upcoming STO which Rick Osann gave me the privilege of selecting through interviews. And to my surprise they called me and my EdTA Rep (Marydell Merrill) to thank us and gave us gifts! I was so delighted by that surprise and I didn't expect it at all! I was so eager to open it that I had to open it on the way home from the trip! It is so gorgeous and I know that I will cherish this gift for as long as I can!
Thank you so much Rick Osann, the Maine STO and all of the thespians there for inviting me with open arms and making me feel truly like family. I had such a blast and I hope to see all of them again at our NorthEast festival on December 5-6! <3