{"id":16165,"date":"2019-09-24T17:15:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T21:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/english\/?p=16165"},"modified":"2021-05-19T14:40:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T18:40:50","slug":"stargazing-at-star-party-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/english\/blog\/2019\/09\/24\/stargazing-at-star-party-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Stargazing at Star Party 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, students, organizations, and faculty involved in the humanities at Ball State gathered in the Studebaker East multi-purpose room for Star Party<\/a>, the activity fair for introverts. In just one year, Star Party doubled its attendance, from 50 guests in 2018 to 117 in 2019! As we all enjoyed free pizza, we heard from keynote speaker Jennifer Banning Gose, forged connections, and found new ventures. Read all about it below!
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Embracing serendipity<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n
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Cathy Day and Jennifer Banning Gose<\/p><\/div>\n

Jennifer Banning Gose<\/a> is the Director of Career Education at Earlham. During her time at Ball State, she earned a BA in History and an MA in English. Much of her speech reflected on her experience as a first-generation college student, including accepting that she was technically first-gen in the first place. While her father did attend college, the landscape of higher education had changed significantly from his graduation in the 1960s to Gose’s freshman year in 2006. Thus, she ventured into the college life without really knowing how to navigate the landscape. Looking back on this journey, she had some advice to share.<\/p>\n

1.) Take up space<\/h5>\n

What does she mean by that?\u00a0 Go to office hours. Don\u2019t be afraid to use the resources that are available to you.<\/p>\n

She stated that many students see professors\u2019 office hours as emergency meetings to fix grades when they\u2019re actually a resource<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Building relationships with people like your professors will benefit not just your academics or your career, but your character.<\/p>\n

2.) Do one new thing every semester<\/h5>\n

Banning Gose stressed the importance of challenging yourself to do one new thing every semester. It can be small, it can be done only once. Be it attending office hours or joining a new club, determine how each new experience shapes you professionally and personally \u2014 embrace that.<\/p>\n

Gose closed with these words:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe long and short of my advice, I guess, is this: embrace serendipity. Your life and career are going to take some strange, winding turns, and you can\u2019t predict which opportunities and experiences are going to set you on your dream path. What you can do, however, is open yourself up to as many opportunities and experiences as possible, and reflect on how each one affected you.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For more of Jennifer Banning Gose’s insight, read the full speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The constellations<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Motivated by Gose\u2019s words? Our college has an abundance of organizations and resources for you. These courses, organizations, honor societies, and more were present as \u201cconstellations\u201d at Star Party.<\/p>\n

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The Broken Plate is a nationally distributed literary magazine produced by Ball State University undergraduates.<\/p><\/div>\n

Cool immersive learning classes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n