Campus was a-buzz this past week as the EMU community joined together for the seventh iteration of the Academic and Creative Excellence Festival (ACE Festival). The annual event featured all of the different disciplines on campus to some capacity throughout the oral, poster, and other forms of presentations. A great deal of students and faculty were recognized for their work over this past year, with around 250 individuals presenting on what they have accomplished. After some presentations sponsored by the Spanish department Monday evening, festivities kicked off more formally with this years’ keynote speaker, Douglass Abrams, tuning in over Zoom during convocation on Wednesday.
Every year, the festival committee tries to line up a keynote speaker to present on a topic relating to EMU’s annual common read. It is very rare that the committee is able to bring in an author themselves, but this year it worked out so that Abrams, co-author of the common read selection The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, could share his presentation remotely. Abram’s presentation, entitled Two Truths and Three Lies About Hope and Humanity, drew from the common read novel and others he has co-authored to discuss hope in the context of the world’s future. Following the presentation, there was an opportunity for open discussion with Abrams about his work and experiences working with many high profile leaders and activists. Student and faculty presentations got into full swing on Thursday, with all classes canceled for the day.
“I love seeing students shine, sharing their work with audiences beyond the classroom,” says festival chair, Kirsten Beachy. With presentation time slots roughly lining up with the length of Thursday classes, the day was jam packed with presentations on just about any topic you could think of. Themes varied from Jesse Kanagy’s lecture, entitled Needs and Networks of Families Residing in Affordable Housing, regrading voucher based housing right here in Harrisonburg, to Riley Quezada’s presentation, entitled The Power of Expression: Emotions through Music in “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” discussing text painting and the powerful role it plays throughout the show. In addition to the oral and poster presentations, there were also a number of fine arts events to attend as well. “Often the [senior art galleries] are well attended, but this one was probably exceptional, it was packed out,” noted Professor of Visual and Communication Arts, Steven Johnson. Featuring senior artists Mariah Miller, Cassidy Walker, Valentina Barahona, and Afton Rhodes-Lehman, the gallery is still open for students to stop by and check out their artwork. This high attendance was also true of the various music recitals that were held in conjunction with the ACE Festival. Over the lunch break, a number of music students performed solos accompanied by piano. During the afternoon, the library once again sponsored an authors’ reception and writing award presentation. The celebration featured twenty faculty who published work over that past year, and many student authors as well. Two brand new things added to this year’s reception regarding student authors specifically, were that last spring’s edition of EMU’s literary arts magazine, Phoenix, as well as the student papers that won awards were featured alongside faculty work. The celebration of excellence that is the ACE Festival will continue to thrive at EMU for years to come in this community that places such an emphasis on learning together.
