By Joanne Sally Mero
With a little over three months left in the school year, a few graduating seniors discussed their final semester at Lewis & Clark.
Lani Felicitas ’18 feels ready to leave college and focus more on life outside of the LC bubble. Felicitas is heavily involved in Anakbayan, a Filipino youth group with chapters all around the world. The alliance works towards educating communities, uniting young activists and addressing important issues involving Filipinos.
This past summer, Felicitas traveled to the Philippines with other members of Anakbayan Portland and participated in protests, marches and engaged with other Filipino activists.
“Being a part of Anakbayan taught me that you really need to get out of the class in order to learn and truly change the world,” Felicitas said. “I’m ready to be done. I’m ready to be in the real world. LC is not the real world. I understand the importance of school but it has its limitations. All theory and all knowledge comes from the real world. Therefore, the real world takes priority over school.”
Felicitas encourages other students to see the importance of dedicating time to engage in the community, despite a demanding academic schedule.
“It’s okay to not do your homework or not do the reading,” Felicitas said. “A bunch of times, I didn’t do the readings and I’m fine. I’m thriving.”
Kora Link ’18 is a theatre major with a concentration in performance.
“Thesis is always kind of stressful,” Link said. “I’m more excited about it than I am stressed about it. I have support from the theater for something that I get to do whatever I want with. It’s kind of great to have this sort of opportunity and it’s important to take advantage of that. (My) thesis includes a creative project as well as a paper and a presentation. For my creative project, I’m doing a piece of original collaborative theater, so I’m creating it with a group of people and it’s very exciting. I’m incorporating music and ritual and witchcraft and ideas and theories about gender and expression.”
For those who are interested in theater but don’t want to commit themselves to the major, Link recommends participating in Once Upon A Weekend. The one-night-only production sponsored by the Theater Department and LC’s Journal of Dramatic Expression. The next Once Upon A Weekend production will take place in the fall 2018.
“It’s comedic and funny and not too serious,” Link said. “It’s a great option for anyone who is interested in some theater without the time commitment.”
Ben Wilson ’18 is currently balancing social life and position as a Resident Advisor while overloading on credits.
“I’m trying to spend time with the people who mean the most to me while I’m still in Portland,” Wilson said. “With such little time left, I’m trying to funnel this deadline anxiety into accumulating and treasuring as much time with all of the unfathomably amazing people I’ve come to know over these last few years. I’ve created this intentional family here that I’m not sure I’m ready to let go of, not that I ever truly would be. When I came to Lewis & Clark I was struggling with depression, in a doomed relationship and felt like I was disappointing everyone in my life. Now I still have my ups and downs but the ups are much more numerous: I’m with the love of my life who’s also my best friend. I know I can constantly grow and adapt. I’ve learned so much about myself and I’ve learned how to value myself.”
For underclassmen, Wilson has a piece of advice to help students make the most of their time at LC.
“When I was a freshman I was walking around campus at the very end of the school year and a group of seniors walk by just reminiscing,” Wilson said. “One of the things they said was, ‘remember when we all lived on campus and we thought all the buildings were so far away from each other and we didn’t want to walk across campus to hang out? That was like nothing! Everybody is so close on campus.’ I was like, I’m a freshman. I can use that advice. And I have. And I pass that on. Visit friends all over campus. It’s really not that far.”
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