An Open Letter to New Boston College Students
by Katy Gilmore ‘24
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To whom it may concern:
It’s strange for me now to recall how anxious I felt pulling up to campus a little over a year ago. I remember holding my breath as the cab pulled into the gates and seeing hordes of students wheeling boxes into upperclassmen dorms. My hands shook lugging my suitcase up what I would later learn were called the million dollar stairs. Even after I finally moved into my Gonzaga dorm, I felt so small and out of place with the swarms of unknown faces everywhere.
I’m sure others in my class can agree that at the beginning of last school year we all had trouble feeling like a part of the BC community (especially with masks stopping us from being able to recognize familiar faces). I certainly felt this way until I saw the BC Arts Council zoom open at the virtual student involvement fair and logged on. During this call I heard about countless arts opportunities and soon signed up for (definitely too many) arts groups. Even though not all of them stuck, seeking out the arts at BC helped me feel like a part of something on campus rather than being lost in the rush of it all.
I like to say that the arts became more visible and necessary than ever during the pandemic. Even if jobs in the arts were deemed “non-essential” at the beginning of quarantine, the arts are what people turned to for meaning since schools first shut down. Just look at how the subscribership of streaming platforms like Netflix grew throughout March and April of 2020. Think about how many DIY arts and decoration videos trended on TikTok. For many, this was the first time they had the ability to read and write for fun. And for me, arriving at school with social distancing and Zoom still in frequent use, the arts were how I found meaning here at BC.
It would be naive to say that the pandemic is anywhere near over. And yet, the scramble to get back on stage, back in a movie theatre, or back at a museum signifies just how crucial the arts are in all of our lives.
BC Arts Fest 2021
Photo by Annabel Hodson-Walker
At the student involvement fair I helped run the booths for the Arts Council and Contemporary Theatre. There were many times I would ask a freshman or even a peer in my grade if they had any interest in the arts. I was rarely met with a direct “no.” However, many students responded with something along the lines of “Oh, you don’t want me,” or “I have no experience,” or “I’m no good at that.”
My main purpose in writing this is to hopefully convince some underclassmen to take advantage of the arts opportunities in Boston and on campus even if you’ve never been directly involved in the arts before. I promise you: anyone can be an artist, and anyone can enjoy the arts. I’m proud of what my class and those above us have been able to do with the arts during our Covid-19 year, but I’m even more excited for what could be coming soon.
So, to the freshmen, sophomores, transfer students, and anyone else who feels that they haven’t had an arts experience at Boston College yet: go find that now. Visit the McMullen and Gallery 203. Get the student discount at Robsham for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts. Attend a capella, choir, orchestra, band, and theatre performances here at BC. Enter lotteries for the cheap tickets to Broadway in Boston. Check out a student film festival. Get involved with the Arts Festival. Take a creative writing class (come write for the Arts Journal… ). Go to that arts-related club meeting you signed up for and then ignored their emails. Fill your college experience with the arts.
Sincerely,
Katy Gilmore
Co-Editor-In-Chief, Boston College Arts Journal
