Technical Theatre Director Ted Thomas has orchestrated set and light design for SU’s theatre division since 2012, and he has attended numerous SETC gatherings.

Thomas believes both theatre technicians and actors should attend the conference because SETC offers students tons of exposure to working professionals who are seeking summer employees and graduate students.

“Undergraduates have the chance to audition for hundreds of different graduate schools. For technicians, there is a design competition: for lighting design, set, and stage management,” Thomas said.

For actors, the audition process begins at the state level at the Georgia Theatre Conference (GTC) and proceeds to the regional level at SETC. If a student passes the GTC competition, he or she is welcomed to audition at SETC in front of an even larger panel of theatre professionals.

Freshman musical theatre major Lizzie Drake is attending the conference for the first time. Entering an audition process that has an approximate 45 percent pass rate could be terrifying for Drake. But, she maintains a positive outlook.

“So I guess I’m just going to go with it and see if I get a job because that would be great,” Drake said.

Like any interview, a job is not guaranteed, but Shorter’s professors consistently develop talented actors. An example of this development is senior musical theatre major and Smyrna, Ga., native Tanyah Anderson. During her first year of attendance, she was offered a job.

Her opportunity is an example of how one connection can jumpstart a career.

“I went in for a callback, and the guy asked me to sing something from Hairspray because their season was Hairspray and Big River, and turns out I had a connection because he used to work at Shorter and he used to work at my old high school,” Anderson said. After making the connection, Anderson was hired for a job in Carbondale, Ill., for that summer.

However, students are not the only ones who benefit from competitions like GTC and SETC.

“I always get something out of the auto cad workshops. There is always a different way to skin a cat, so I learn a lot from other technical directors who use this program and others,” Thomas said.

Stella Parker
Staff Writer
stella.Parker@hawks.shorter.edu

Organization administrators further the initial connection between mentor and mentee along with the relationship between fellow members of each learning community (LC).

The LC members are placed together in learning communities based on their majors and classes they share. This decision allows freshmen to automatically have one more thing in common with those around them: at least two classes at the beginning of the semester in which they are surrounded by people they know.

As a peer mentor, the goal is to be involved in the area of academics that you are assigned in your LC. While there are not community groups for every major, the science, education, communication, music and theatre majors along with a few others, have designated LCs.

The groups are organized by major because students within the same classes can push each other to reach similar goals.

Developing relationships is vital for peer mentors to be successful. Junior Cecil Robinson knows firsthand the importance of building friendships with those in his LC.

“I got to establish meaningful relationships and share personal testimonies with students who were facing similar struggles,” Robinson said.

Mentors use different techniques to connect with their LC, and more experience at the position allows for greater comfort.

Junior Madalene Brackett, a former peer mentor, believes the job begins when peer mentors first meet the incoming class of freshman students.

“As a peer mentor, you are one of the first people the freshman meet, and you help make their first year a year to remember,” Brackett said.

As a recent first year mentor, I struggled with being only one year older than the freshmen in my LC and being expected to have my life together enough to show them the right path. My intention was to never act like I was better than them or that I hadn’t had the same questions, fears and excitement they were experiencing.

I may never know if I succeeded in my goal as a peer mentor, but the freshmen in my LC still talk to me. Throughout the week of training, move-in day, weekly classes and a service day, I learned more about myself than I ever imagined.

Looking back, I can’t pinpoint a favorite moment or event, but I’ll always treasure the joy of seeing those individuals grow from inexperienced teenagers fresh out of high school to the mature college students they have become.

Stella Parker
Staff Writer
stella.parker.@hawks.shorter.edu

Stella Parker
Staff Writer
stella.parker@hawks.shorter.edu

It was a fall day in 1991 on what now seems like an ancient Shorter campus. The streets were lined with college students who had come for a street dance happening between the Sheffield-Thompson building and Roberts Hall.

“The school was a liberal arts school so the feel of the school was quite different than it is today,” said Shorter alumna Christy Deloach (Slade), who met her future husband Donnie Slade at that fall dance.

Twenty-six years later, student Taylor Slade has continued in the footsteps of her parents by meeting someone special at  Shorter.

“We met in FSU one night my freshman year,” Taylor said when describing the time she met student Austin Weller, who is now her boyfriend.

Since then, Weller and Slade have formed a relationship that resembles her parents’ journey 26 years ago.

The Slade family is an example of two sequential generations of Shorter students who found love on this campus.

Donnie was a Rome local who “was recruited to play baseball for Shorter in 1990,” Christy said. She “transferred from Macon College in January of 1991 to study vocal performance.”

According to Christy, there are multiple similarities between the two generations of couples. Both couples have strong faiths and have grown in their relationship with God through their time together and at Shorter. After meeting, both couples waited a few months before dating while still remaining in each other’s lives as friends.

“One memory we love looking back on is one night all of our friends went out after midnight and played “Sardines” around campus and we got partnered up,” Taylor said.

According to national statistics, college is where many females hope to meet their mate.

Taylor is one of at least two women in this statistic. But she didn’t come to Shorter expecting to find love like her parents had.

“Absolutely not. I had a boyfriend coming into Shorter so I never expected to find someone else, but it has been the most incredible opportunity. I love doing life with him!”

So, in a society that is ripe with failed relationships, is the Slade family the exception or the rule of college relationship ventures?
According to an article on Elite Daily titled “Why Relationships in Your 20s Won’t Last,” an individual’s 20’s – especially their college years – are a time for growing and developing oneself as a person. Furthermore, one’s 20s should be devoted to choosing a career path, maintaining an active social life, and coming into your own.

But the Slades are proof that you are able to have both — a journey of finding  out who you are as a person while growing with your significant other.

They are also elated that Taylor was able to find someone special at Shorter.

“We approve and wish God would open doors for them to speak and teach other students some key things to have in a dating relationship,” Christy said. “Their dating relationship is one that is so rare these days … the boundaries they have set and commitment they have to honor God in their relationship …”

Christy Slade says the relationship between Austin and Taylor is a lot like her relationship with Donnie, especially in the way that they enjoy being around each other.

“If you are around Austin and Taylor for very long, you will see this playfulness they have toward each other. It’s adorable to watch.”

Though Donnie and Christy Slade are among the fortunate few who meet their life partners in college, the Slades do not endorse abandoning your purpose for being in college to find a mate.

“Don’t go looking for love … Trust God to bring who He wants in your life. Don’t compromise for anyone. Always be who God made you to be. The right person will see the real you and will love you even with all your quirks.”

According to the Slades, respect for one another is one of the keys of a lasting relationship.

They advise college students who are falling in love to respect each other’s convictions and respect each other’s space.

Most importantly, they say to find your fulfillment in God and not in the other person.

“Don’t depend on the other person to meet all your emotional needs,” Christy said. “That’s God’s job. Honor their heart by listening to them…Be proactive in showing kindness and gentleness to them and laugh a lot.”

The Slades will celebrate  25 years of marriage this year on April 16. They hope that their marriage can be an example to others. Taylor, for one, holds on to many of their life lessons.

“Don’t do the worldly dating path,” Taylor said. “Put Jesus first and then your significant other second and be obedient to the Lord within the relationship.”