Source: Miriam Valle
I recently attended one of my first Colby BMR (Broadway Musical Revue) performances in Page Commons this past weekend. I had no idea what to expect, but I have always been appreciative of the effort that student’s do to makes these productions possible. The long hours of rehearsing, memorizing lines, practicing dance moves, and keeping a straight face when a certain piece touched you personally. There was one performance that really touched me, “When I Grow Up” performed by the seniors in BMR, Tionna Haynes ’15, Jordan Lorenz ’15, Julie MacLean ’15, Emilie Jensen ’15, and Lindsay DiBart ’15.
As another academic year starts closing in, our stress levels start to augment. We bombard ourselves with questions like what I will be doing for the summer? Am I on track? Will I graduate on time? Is my summer body ready? How am I getting back home? Can I stay at Colby and not graduate just yet? Just thinking about these questions raises our stress levels.
Now that we’re older, it makes it hard to reflect on what we used to be concerned with when we were younger. I believe it is important to reflect on what you used to like and enjoy, and usually those moments in your life are the ones that continue to motivate you to be the person who you are today. There were certain parts of the song “When I Grow Up” that made me think back at my childhood. Seeing all the seniors on stage made me want to transport their parents to see them perform this song. When other members of BMR, Olivia Gould ’16 and Brendon Leonard ’16 mentioned that their parents were there for their performance, it made me think of how much their family must have supported them with their other performances that they must have had in high school. I tried to look at the performance of in the eyes of their parents, imagine the things they must have said to their parents that made them laugh, imagine what kind of trouble their parents had to get them to eat their veggies; it’s the little things that challenged parents that perhaps seemed the most difficult in a child’s eyes.
I‘ve always been one to want to understand what people are like. Some questions I enjoy asking people when they were younger:
· What made them happy?
· What made them sad?
· What scared them?
· What made them cry?
· What did they hope for?
Imagine looking back when you were just starting 1st grade. That first day when your teacher assigned your seat, you had a nametag, you had your own pencil box, your own cubby, and everything was in place. The only worries you had was whether David was going to take your favorite ball, or it Sophia was going to beat you at the best seat on the swing set. We were unaware of the issues that grown ups have to face, and now that we see the world with new perspectives, it makes it hard to continue life with an innocent mind.
Look back at when you were seven or eight years old, what did you want to do when you grow up? Did you want to be able to do things independently? Did you want to do things that you weren’t able to do at home? Like in the song, I will be smart enough to answer all the questions that you need to know the answers to before you’re grown up. Or I will wake up when the sun comes up and I will watch cartoons until my eyes go square. I find it quite ironic how we hoped to have these things at our age.
But now as adults, there’s a part of us that doesn’t want to grow up. It’s a scary world out there, so many responsibilities. Being at Colby definitely provides a space for students to be who they are and celebrate the camaraderie that goes on around campus. I really enjoyed the performance, and I want to thank BMR for creating a beautiful production and made me think of my younger years.
Just remember as you grow up:
· Life isn’t a race; take things at your own pace.
· No matter how stressful life gets, your loved ones will always be there to support.
· Cherish the rest of the weeks you have here and make memories. Good Luck Seniors!