Dec 13, 2018 | News |
Maegan Hewey Contributing Writer
Tapping, twirling, leaping, swinging, all the moves that come with the Ballroom Dance Club. As this club has just joined the UMF family at the start of the fall 2018 semester, they are moving like no other.
Julia Allen, a Junior creative writing and theatre major, is the instructor for the Ballroom Dance Club. “I started learning ballroom through a friend about a year and a half ago,” said Allen. “But a lot of what I know is from lessons in my hometown, and being self taught.”
Dancing tends to bring out the confidence in people, and this club aims to do just that as Allen says encouragement is one of her main priorities.
“I have found in my experience that ballroom has encouraged people to interact more on a social level and become more self-assured,” Allen said. “I just love watching our members grow and become more comfortable with dancing.”
Since this is a new club on campus, their focus might change with the coming years, but as right now, they people to learn dance and have fun. “Eventually I would like to see us use the skills that we have learned at a social dance, and perhaps at competitions in the future,” said Allen.
Ballroom dance is not one kind of dance, there are many different styles. “Some of the recent dances we’ve worked on are tango, cha cha, and foxtrot,” said Allen. “But our favorite so far is swing!” Swing is a type of dance that is bouncy, fast past and up beat. Once dancers learn the moves, they can apply them to just about any song.
If learning to dance is something that sounds intriguing, students can swing their way into it from 7 p.m, to 8 p.m. in Roberts Learning Center 005 on Monday’s. If Monday’s do not work, the club also offers sessions on Friday’s from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., with a fee of $5 for non-student members.
Oct 11, 2018 | Feature |
By Maegan Hewey Contributing Writer
The Early Childhood Club aims to be more well known by their continued participation around UMF and the local community.
The ECC has changed their name this year, in hopes of gaining more interest in the club. “This year we have rebranded ourselves with our new name, the Early Childhood Club! We were previously UMF Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC), but are using our name change as an opportunity to make campus more aware of us and what we do,” said Hope.
Carson Hope, the president of the Early Childhood Club, takes pride in this group and what they have come to be. A main goal for this club is involvement in the community and they do as much as they can to achieve that. “We volunteer at community events geared towards young children and their families, volunteer our time with teachers and early childhood organizations, and promote events for the early childhood community,” said Hope.
Facing large groups of people, and not knowing what to expect, is not an issue with the members of ECC. “The main purpose of this club is to create opportunities for like-minded students, creating awareness of the importance of the quality of early childhood education,” said Hope. “[We] provide opportunities for professional development, and to work as a club in collaboration with others to benefit children and their families in the Farmington community.”
The volunteer opportunities are very useful for the learning educators. Being able to get active and help others allows them to get a better feel for being a teacher. In the education field the main focus is the child, but there are other aspects involved in the profession as well.
“Some things that we have done in the past include parent nights out, professional development sessions, guest speakers, and children’s author events,” said Hope. Teaching future educators to help not only the children, but also the parents and other teachers is a huge responsibility.
Along with their new name, ECC is preparing for new events. The club will be involved in a playground project for the Pre-K program at Mallett Elementary School on October 20th and will participate in the annual Maine AEYC conference at Bowdoin College on October 27th.
Being able to work more and learn about the aspects of early childhood is an opportunity that comes with the fun of a club. The only thing that Price would like to see change is the level of involvement in the club. “We would really like to see more people at meetings and events,” said Price.
The ECC holds club meetings on Wednesday’s in the Education Center, room 106 at 6:00pm. The meetings and club are open to anyone who is interested. contact the For more information students can contact President Carson Hope at carson.hope@maine.edu.
Sep 27, 2018 | News |
By Maegan Hewey Contributing Writing
Clefnotes recently inducted new members into the group. (Photo courtesy of Josh Beckett)
Nordica Auditorium roared with sound on Wednesday, Sept. 12. as students rolled into the auditorium and filled the chairs for the auditions to join Clefnotes. As hopefuls and club members alike watched, one by one the auditioners went on stage, sang 30 seconds of their song choice, followed by a range check and harmonising with three of the other members. Out of the 29 people who auditioned, only five made it in.
McKayla Marois, a Junior and 2nd year Clefnotes member, said, “I am extremely excited; we took in some fantastic talent and I can’t wait to see them learn from us and watch them grow as a group.”
This year the newest members of the Clefnotes are Tess Gioia, Adrienne Chandler, Jen Larson, Sarah Ventimiglia, and Drew Monteith. These five made it through both the auditions and callback.
Ventimiglia, a freshman at UMF, has known that she wanted to audition for Clefnotes for years. “I wanted to join Clefnotes since I toured UMF in the 8th grade,” said Ventimiglia. “I thought their music was beautiful and I could see that they really enjoyed doing what they do.”
Ventimiglia has sung since 3rd grade and has continued her passion since. Ventimiglia was confident up on stage, and showed no fear in her eyes as she auditioned with a piece from “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley.
Auditioning in front of a crowd was new for Ventimiglia.“The audition was not what I had expected. Many people were in the audience, but only a few were auditioning,” said Ventimiglia. “I did not know people were simply allowed to sit and support us.”
After everyone auditioned that night, the hopefuls were told whether or not they got a callback. “I was so unbelievably surprised that I had made it in that I had burst into tears and shouted, ‘I can’t believe I made it!’” Ventimiglia said.
Clefnotes is a club that has been around for more than six years, always allowing anyone to audition. “We hold auditions every fall and spring semester,” said Marois. Holding auditions every year encourages more people to join, or gain the confidence to try out.
Marois was not nervous during the audition process. “I knew that whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. We put in a lot of work and there wasn’t much more we could have done to bring people to auditions,” Marois said. “We worked hard and I am proud of my group.”
To learn more about upcoming Clefnotes events, follow them on Facebook at “UMF Clefnotes.”
