If anyone at Eastman has ventured to take bus 72 to the River Campus, then they’ve probably noticed the culture shock of traversing two distinct and unique worlds.
From the eyes of the classical musician, those would be the world of the musician and that of the non-musician.
At Eastman, students live amongst musicians, albeit different types of musicians, classical and jazz. But not so far away, there is another campus where opportunities abound to immerse oneself in “the other world.”
Many Eastman students might wonder why they should leave their happy planet to venture on to another. Perhaps a reason as good as any is to maintain some level of sanity during their stay at Eastman.
As much fun as it is to live amongst your colleagues 24/7 for four years, diversity really is the spice of life.
Opportunities abound to expand one’s horizons. This Friday afternoon, in fact, there will be an activities fair at the River Campus – a fine chance to check out some of the groups on campus.
As for classes, one can take an introductory language class – Hebrew for instance – or a science or math class. Overall, there are plenty of opportunities to satisfy the Eastman humanities requirements – possibly to even enjoy them! – with truly unique classes.
Believe it or not, those humanities and science credits can be fulfilled with some unusual courses. Visiting the Eastman registrar’s site, one might see that they allow, for example, courses listed as natural science at the River Campus to count as humanities at Eastman.
That may not be so unusual. Far more interesting, however, is that students are allowed to enroll in as much as two 3-4 credit courses of non-musical or performing studio arts to count towards humanities and science requirements.
According to the registrar’s web site, such courses include theatre, dance, film and video production, photography, painting and sculpture.
Now of course you’ll want to double- and triple-check that all your courses really will count towards your requirements, but at least now you know that some unexpected courses could count! “If only I had known that as a freshman,” some students might say to themselves.
Last week, busloads of River Campus students went down to Eastman to audition for secondary lessons and ensembles. However, only a few Eastman students were headed in the other direction.
There’s still time for those who are interested in taking advantage of this opportunity – the semester is young. Students can go online and see if any of the courses spark an interest. Groups and organizations also have information available online to browse through. It may be a big effort to get on the free bus to the River Campus – with busy schedules – but it may be worth it for many students.
Aresty can be reached at aaresty@campustimes.org
