On Wednesday, Oct. 9, the Augustana community celebrated its fall 2024 Symposium Day. With lectures, presentations and creative performances available for Augustana students and staff, everyone was invited to celebrate this year’s theme: Big Ideas.
In Brunner Theatre Center’s Black Box Theatre, students and staff gathered for an hour of student-led poetry readings. With students piled all around the room, it was a perfect space to relax and enjoy the creative minds of the Augustana community.
One student presenter was sophomore Gaia Splendore, co-editor in chief of SAGA magazine, who read four pieces to the crowd on a variety of topics inspired by her daily life.
“I get inspired to write very much by what’s happening in the moment,” Splendore said. “Like my one poem I wrote about caramelizing onions quite literally came to me when I was caramelizing onions. And another one about my boyfriend called ‘Thoughts on I-80 Heading East Towards Home’ and I was literally on I-80 headed east towards home thinking about him.”
The second person to take the stage at the event was junior Nathan Almeda. He also read four original poems at the event and said he takes inspiration from nature and his emotions.
“I had this one poem that I wrote about this tree tunnel I saw on the other side of the Slough Path,” Almeda said. “And I just channeled my five-year-old imagination, and the gears started turning, and I was just going like, what’s in there?”
As the students who volunteered from Rebecca Wee’s intro and advanced poetry classes left the stage, the floor opened to anyone in the audience interested in sharing a poem with the crowd. These poems could be from a favorite poet or one that was original.
Wee, a professor in the English department, said that she’s always impressed by the number of students who take the stage during the open mic part of the event.
“It’s not easy to stand in front of a room full of people you don’t know and share what isn’t just information,” Wee said. “It’s what is your heartbeat, your life force, your emotions and all kinds of things that you don’t ever understand when you’re writing a poem.”
It takes courage to take the stage as a writer of any kind, but the Black Box Theatre saw plenty of first-time readers and returning students present on Symposium Day.
Augustana’s Symposium Day is just one of the many opportunities for students to share their skills and learn more on unique topics. Over the course of a student’s time on campus, there are constant opportunities to grow.
Senior Janey Locander said it’s a privilege to present at the events, just as it’s a privilege to witness the event. Her words of wisdom to the underclassmen of Augustana is to take advantage of these moments during their time here.
“You’ve only got four years here,” Locander said. “Go to a session and just read poetry for an hour and listen to words. And even if you don’t understand the words, feel the emotions.”
Janey Locander is a previous employee of the Augustana Observer.
