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Thoughts on the Juniata Concert Choir
This weekend was the Juniata College Concert Choir’s Spring performance. At this show they presented all the work they have been practicing and perfecting since January, all of which they performed on their recent domestic tour through Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut. It featured traditional religious songs and several songs of Czech origin, two of which were written and composed by Antonin Dvorak. It was a moving auditory and even visual performance, and one that I will not soon forget.
I first heard the Concert Choir fifteen or so years ago when I was in kindergarten. The Shuler Theater in Raton, New Mexico, is run by a man named Bill Fegan, a Juniata Alumnus and a master at getting hard to get performances to come to a small middle-of-nowhere town. Bill managed to get the choir to swing through Raton on their Southwest domestic tour and although I don’t remember most of the performance there is one that stands out in my memory.
The choir had come down from the stage and had spread themselves out in front of and around either side of the audience. I don’t remember the song or even the tune, I just remember that even at such a young age I was in some sort of awe. I relived this awe this weekend as the choir neatly removed themselves from the stage and positioned themselves around the audience. The first song they sang in this formation was Remember Me. The Baritone’s deep voices perfectly balanced with the soprano’s high tones, and the Tenors and Altos blended it all together to make a hauntingly beautiful masterpiece. I don’t remember this song so much for the tune or even the words, but for the emotional response it brought. Throughout the entire piece I fought with being happy as it seemed that two souls were going their separate ways and moving on. But as the song went on, I realized that it was really someone saying goodbye for good, and the final line of “Remember me and be sad” hit home.
I have listened to a fair number of choirs during my life, but none so powerful as the Juniata Concert Choir. While many of them are wonderful singers, none except for their director Russell Shelley are what you would call professionals. Yet this group of young individuals comes together and manages to not only sing well but to also convey a breathtaking amount of emotion that caused the lady sitting behind me to exclaim “Oh, wow” after every song.
Taking a Break
Since I live in New Mexico I go home twice a year; Summer and Winter breaks. That means I either stay on campus or nicely ask a friend to stay with them. This past weekend was the three day Easter Weekend and since I was on duty (and because I had nowhere else to go) I stayed on campus. This is a hard thing to do, especially when the majority of your friends have gone home to be with their families for the weekend. Fortunately, there are several groups on campus that put on events for those of us who have to stay because we live so far away.
My weekend began with a trip to the cliffs, a beautiful location just north of campus. The rocky outcroppings jut out into a canyon through which the Juniata River runs. In the fall the leaves on the oaks, maples, and elms are shades of red and orange so vivid, that when the wind blows through the trees it looks like a raging wildfire has engulfed the canyon. My friends and I wandered down to the cave at the base of the third cliff and then continued exploring down the lower path, picking our way through brambles and dead bushes. We got to the fourth cliff and I suddenly had the bright idea to climb up instead of walking back along the trail.
There is something strangely relaxing about doing something risky after weeks of stress. My friends and I climbed up the wall of thorns and rotten logs and loose rocks half hoping, half praying that we wouldn’t fall. It was nice to get back to the simple things, to just focus on where we were and where we were going. When we finally reached the top we just sat, relaxed, watched the sun set over Huntingdon, and of course took new profile pictures.
After we had got all the right angles for our new profile pictures and captured as much of the dying sunlight as we could, we continued on down the trail to the fourth, fifth, sixth cliffs. When we finally reached the end we realized that it might not be the best idea for us to walk all the way back through the dark along the trail so we bushwhacked our way through a bramble thicket and back into civilization. We ended up several blocks away and down a very steep hill from our car so it took us another couple of minutes to actually get back to campus.
One of the best things about Juniata is its proximity to beautiful places in nature. The cliffs and the Peace Chapel are the closest of these, but if you ever get a chance, take the drive out to A Thousand Steps. The climb up all of the steps can be difficult and long but all of that is worth the views from the top. It is easy to get lost in your school work and clubs and sports teams and social life, and all that is well and good for being a successful college student. But sometimes you just have to take an evening, afternoon or an entire day to just go out into nature, take a breath, and just enjoy the sunset.
The Senior Resident Assistant: Juniata Residential Life gains a new position
The Resident Assistant is a staple of collegiate residential life. They are simultaneously friend, advisor, and somewhat overbearing parent reminding you that it is quiet hours and even though you may not have class tomorrow, someone does. An RA is supposed to make their residents feel at home, which is particularly important for incoming freshman who may never have been away from home. Above the RA’s are the Resident Directors who oversee the RA’s and make sure the building runs smoothly. They all work other jobs on campus meaning that they can be a great resource for finding jobs or learning how to join an athletic team or club. Above the RD’s is the Director of Residential Life, and above them is the Dean of Students. Why am I telling you about the seemingly boring chain of command of Juniata College’s Residential Life Office?
Because next year it is getting a new player: The Senior RA. The college is beginning to shy away from the RD framework of leadership, instead opting for Area Coordinators (RD’s with a fancy new name) who are placed in the building that most need an RD and who oversee the running of several buildings, and SRA’s who will be experienced RA’s that oversee their individual dorms. While the SRA’s will technically answer to the Area Coordinators, their role is not just limited to looking over their building and reporting to their boss. The SRA’s will have a greater voice in the ResLife office, and will serve as much more efficient liaisons between the students and the administration.
For the past year I have worked as an RA in Sherwood Hall on the first floor, and along with the reapplication process RA’s who had worked for at least two semesters were allowed to apply for the Senior RA position and I would like to share my last paragraph of my application essay:
“I am excited for the new SRA position and the impact it will have on Residential life and the Residence Halls, especially the first year Halls. There are many changes coming to Juniata in the next few years and the best place to address those changes with the students is in the Residence Halls. We as a staff are liaisons between administrators and students and in the coming years I believe there is a lot we can do to make the students feel like their voices are being heard. Having a student in a position where they come into close contact with both students and administrators alike on a much more personal level than say, a student government officer, will be a huge step in getting the students’ voices heard, and will make Juniata feel that much more like home.”
In the past, I believe the RD has been some nameless faceless entity that lives in some hard to find corner of the Residence hall and it is near impossible to form any kind of relationship there. Now, we have students leading students. Your SRA next year might be in your Survey of Western Art class, or the TA for your Integrated Chemical Principles Lab or a co-member of the Dance Ensemble. You will study with them, or they’ll help you with an acid-base titration or help you perfect that last dance move of your set. But more important than that (okay less important than your grades…) is the bond you will have with them. You may not become best of friends but you will most likely be more comfortable voicing your concerns to them than at a forum put on by the administration. And because of the SRA’s new found proximity to the administration the divide between administration and the student bodies’ voice will be that much smaller.
Finding Your Place
There are two rooms tucked away on the second floor of the Beeghly Library. They are about four feet wide and six feet long and are furnished with only two chairs, a lamp, and a two and a half by four-foot piece of wood for a desk. The walls are made of pegboard, and the paint, where it hasn’t been peeled away or graffitied, is an off white. The graffiti is as diverse in subject matter as it is abundant on the desk top and some of the walls. To my left there is a list of all the amino acids accompanied by their structures, and to my right a clever student has used one of the holes in the pegboard to draw an eye. But it is the graffiti on the desk that has truly caught my eye tonight. There are names, movie quotes, some Korean words, two lines of what looks to be Arabic, several complaints about finals, and a poll asking whether or not the graffiti artist should leave Juniata.
Each time I return to this particular room I am in tonight, my eyes are drawn to that question, and each time I smile at the thirteen yeses (stay), the one no (leave) and the other tally that seems to be voting for nothing in particular. I know Juniata is not for everyone. We lack a lot of specific majors (even though the POE program allows for the creation of a personalized field of study), some students don’t like rural areas, and others may want to play D1 sports.
But I’d like to think that Juniata has a lot more to offer than the opportunity to play on a varsity D1 team, as prestigious as that may be. Since it was founded in 1876, Juniata has striven to create a welcoming and diverse environment for its students. Because of that we now have a Quidditch team playing on the same campus where the Ultimate Frisbee kids throw and the Rugby teams scrum. Sports aside, we have several cultural clubs (Umoja, French, Amigos de Guanin, Burmese, Chinese, German, Russian, and more at http://legacy.juniata.edu/life/clubs.html ) that hold dinners and cultural events throughout the year to spread the knowledge of and appreciation for their respective cultures. And as a kind of corollary to our many cultural clubs, Juniata has an amazing study abroad program, with exchange partnerships all over the world, from France and Russia to India and Australia.
College is a time to step out of your normal comfort zone and discover something new about yourself or the world, and the people at Juniata, from President Troha to the freshmen, do their best to foster an environment where people feel comfortable to do so. No matter who you are, what you like to do, or what you want to do with your life, there is a place for you here at Juniata. Even if that place is a room tucked away on the second floor of the Beeghly Library, covered with the names and art of those who have come before and found their place here at Juniata.
