Extracirricular activities central to making memories in college

As syllabus week ends and the real work begins, many students may find themselves surrendering to the monotony: go to class, do your homework, cram for the midterm, try to complete all the readings and finish the paper at the last minute. School is hard, sometimes tedious, and does not always leave space for a student to put forth a personal, creative effort. But let's face it: when looking back on your four (or more) years in college, will you remember every single class, or the memories you made when you were showing SHU the real you?

College students are inherently creative. Now is the time for us to flourish, for us to work together to make both memories and something of ourselves. The reason we join extracurricular activities and work at them is because we want to make more than just earning good grades in our time at Seton Hall: we want to make our mark.

For students looking to use their creative and artistic skills as well as leave a mark on Seton Hall, I suggest joining the Theatre Council, a newly co-curricular student organization where actors, directors, techies and theatre enthusiasts alike can come together to produce four outstanding shows at Seton Hall.

The Theatre Council allows a student to focus that creative energy we cannot always use in the classroom into the creation of a play, be it a musical, comedy, tragedy or other genre if theater. Theater is a thoroughly creative process, with room for group work as well as individual achievement.

I found a creative niche for myself at Seton Hall with Theatre Council. I put my creative efforts into my work onstage as well as the publicity for the shows. In the past three years I have spent with the members of the Theatre Council, I have made friends and lasting memories with creative people who want nothing more than to come together to create something special. I know when we all come together to audition for and create the annual children's show we perform on University Day, we will unite in creativity again.

At the end of every Theatre Council Season, the e-board throws a celebration and awards ceremony at Cryan's for the entire council. The awards are silly and all in good fun; what matters is we are still coming together to celebrate a memorable year of quality theater, friendship and creation.

Erin Bell is a senior journalism major from Burlington, NJ. She can be reached at erin.bell@student.shu.edu.