Sophomore Sarah White talks about what she's involved in on campus.
My entire life, I have made seemingly (note the key word
“seemingly”) arbitrary decisions that have made those around me question my abilities
to properly make decisions and assess my life choices. I took Latin in middle
and high school, suffering through countless exams for a supposedly dead,
useless language. While I was scanning The Aeneid, my other friends were taking
oral exams, grooming their marketable language skills, lecturing me on where I
went wrong. However, now, as the rest of
my art history class struggles to connect Hellenistic art to its ancient Greek
and Roman politics, mythology, and culture, I am proudly making deeper
connections than I ever believed that I could.
What still surprises those close to me is that I continue to make these
same kinds of decisions, decisions that lack the purest form of practicality
that Hopkins students often thrive on. I do choose some activities based on
practicality, yes, but I also choose ones for pure enjoyment.
My finest example of this is my involvement in JOSH, JHU’s
all-female Bollywood Fusion dance group.
By “fusion”, we mean that we combine more traditional styles of Indian
dance with contemporary dance such as hip-hop.
Yes, I joined an Indian dance team.
And as my name and appearance suggest, I am far from Indian. But none of the JOSH girls seemed to mind
when I entered the audition last spring, nor do they care now that I’m a member
of this really spectacular team. I’ll admit, I have a relatively small amount
of experience with dance, let alone with Indian dance (you should see me
stumble over classical style choreography—sad life). However, I don’t mind having to shower at
midnight after practice or working extra hard to learn the moves because
spending time dancing with these girls is insane amounts of fun (sisters Serena
Durrani and Sahini Pothireddy can attest to this). All we care about is dancing as best as we
can and having fun together.
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| Sarah White, Serena Durrani, and Sahini Pothireddy pose with their team. |
I was also a film and media studies major for a year. In order to gain experience with leadership in
the field, I became a part of the organization committee for the Hopkins Film
Conference. It was a forum based here on the Hopkins campus for students,
faculty, and industry professionals from across the mid-Atlantic region to
discuss their ideas on a given topic.
This year the topic was “Film and Technology,” leading us to call upon
artists such as Toni Dove (2000/2003 Government Advisory Committee on
Information Technology and Creativity, Computer Science and Telecommunications
Board, etc.) to speak at our event. Though I’m no longer a film major, the main
thing I’ve learned from my experience on this committee is that I have the
ability to take a significant leadership role on a brand new project and aid in
it’s success. So bottom line: it’s so
typical that I ended up doing something ELSE unrelated to what I want to do
with my life (which is unknown, just by the way), but it provided me with
skills and the knowledge of my own abilities that I wouldn’t have gained just
by sitting in class.
My friend from home and I have a mantra: “do it
for the story”. I strongly urge everyone
to pick something they want to do just because of that little voice inside you
that says, “I want to join an Indian dance team because it looks like fun.” No matter how many people will tell you that
you’re wasting your time, time is never wasted on expanding your mind in
directions you didn’t know it could stretch.
I firmly believe that those who do things just for the hell of it have
more fun and learn more overall. Now that I’m a writing seminars major (or will
be once I get that form signed, oops…), I can tell the stories I’ve been
working to collect. As a Pi Phi, I can’t
wait to pass this wisdom on to my little and baby angels to come.
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