Semester 4

Arts TRYathlon #1: Art Scholars Event

2/13/25, Bel Air Lounge, Craft and Chat: Shrinky Dink Keychains

#science, #shrinky, #colorful4life

As my first tryathalon in my last semester in the arts scholars, this event served as an opportunity to revisit Bel Air and recall how much I have learned over the past semester. Now that I live on the other side of campus, I sometimes forget about how my time in Bel Air was, so returning to these familiar spaces allowed me to reflect over the past semester while I drew and colored in my shrinky dink keychain shape. During the actual event, I had totally forgotten to hole punch my shrinky dink before putting it in the oven, so the hardened plastic that came out has no way to be made into a keychain. Luckily, I was able to salvage the situation by using my creative thinking skills I have honed throughout my engineering and arts scholars classes to come up with a unique idea to get something even better out. I could glue a sare fridge magnet I had at home to the back and turn what would have been a keychain I likely would not have used into a fun decoration for my kitchen. I find that much of what we discuss in arts scholars classes can be fit to apply to my engineering major classes, as much of what we do is thinking about new solutions to solve old problems. I do not antici[pate this need for creative thinking to ever go away, especially in my eventually career outside of school, which is one reason why I place so much value in the arts and its combination with creativity, which ultimately became a significant source of inspiration for my capstone project this year.

Arts TRYathlon #2: Choose Your Own Adventure

3/12/25, Dekelboum Concert Hall, The Clarice, "And the Whole Earth Dreams: University of Maryland Wind Ensemble"

#concert, #livemusic, #surpriseopera

As I draw closer and closer to the end of my time in the arts scholars program, I find myself thinking more retrospectively about these tryathlon events, trying to pinpoint what new connections between the arts and my major I can make through the activities I attend. For this most recent visit to Dekelboum hall, I thought there was no way I would be able to come up with a new perspective. That is, until about 20 minutes into the performance, the band welcomed out a singer to accompany a six-movement piece. Upon reading the details in the program more, I learned that it was actually a composition based on old poems with the opera-sung accompaniment actually reciting those Alcott poems that the piece was named after. This sudden and surprising deviation from what I was expecting of the performance immediately called my capstone to mind. Both contained elements of seeking to combine traditionally separate mediums of performance (concert band with vocals and music and technology), while also drawing inspiration from talented individuals of the past. Furthermore, the title of the full performance, “And the Whole Earth Dreams” called to mind themes of environmentalism and community, both central focuses of what I am trying to explore with my capstone. I ended up relating to the whole curation of the performance more than I ever expected to, which had the additive bonus of reminding me why I am passionate about my project as I begin to burn out on the whole thing. Hopefully I can continue to apply this mindset as I go forward in the semester with my in-major classes, finding inspiration and motivation in the least obvious places to help me carry on through the rest of this busy semester.

Arts TRYathlon #3: Choose Your Own Adventure

3/27/25, The Clarice Atrium, "Bach Cantata Series: UMD Choral Activities"

#Bach, #CommunityPerformance, #EsIstDirGesagt

To finish off my last Tryathlon of Art Scholars, I decided to attend a choral performance on the stairs of the Clarice atrium. Upon arriving, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was more than just a choir, it included a small string, woodwind, and organ accompaniment. Not only that, but it was also entirely in German! During this performance, I specifically noticed the groups of people who comprised the performance. While the orchestra was entirely student composed, most of the choir were very clearly from outside of the university, as the ages of participants ranged from college-aged to elderly. I thought this collaboration was especially interesting because of the engineering parallel it reminded me of. I am a firm believer that in order to be the best engineer that I can, it is imperative to work with people of different backgrounds and disciplines in order to learn from each other and expand the effectiveness of collaboration. This was also true in the case of this performance. People of all sorts of different backgrounds, some students, some perhaps teachers or retired, or accountants, or architects or whatever, were all coming together to create something as a whole, borrowing from each other's strengths. Another parallel I saw was in the performance being a PhD student's first conducting performance, which made me think of how my career readiness discussions in my classes emphasize the importance of getting internships to get jobs later on. While this is good advice, I believe it is easier said than done, which I think was exemplified by the individual going to school to have his first conducting event after who knows how many years of learning. While this is my last Tryathlon, I hope to continue going to similar events on campus to continue to experience all the interesting art this university has to offer.

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