On Friday, April 5, Clark University students held REVERB, a student-designed event that showcased the creativity of, and fostered collaboration among, the Clark community. More than 50 Clark students, faculty, and staff shared their knitting and rug-making techniques and Cirque du Soleil-type stunts with fellow Clarkies, while others impressed their peers with their poetry, original plays and music, and energy healing demonstrations.
REVERB originated with an assignment in psychology research professor Seana Moran‘s capstone seminar, Creativity, Collaboration and Human Development. When professor Moran asked her students to come up with a way to inspire creativity within the Clark community, undergraduates Samantha (“Sam”) Bishop ’14, Alison Mullan-Stout ’13, Kerien Driscoll ’13, and Lorena Sterjanaj ’13, proposed REVERB.
Professor Moran explained the significance of the name, REVERB, which means “to sustain a sound, create an echo that is both reminiscent of what came before, yet different…to change it up, vibrate in a new way, and to pass it along to someone else,” she said. “REVERB is a venue where people at Clark can share their creative insights and activities with others, reverberate them so that others can join the fun and make their own mark, too.”
Visit Clark on Flickr to check out more photos from REVERB.
“We knew that there are so many creative endeavors happening at Clark already, so we wanted to bring it all into one space and use it as an opportunity to inspire people to try something new, develop a new passion, and think about things in a new way,” said Mullan-Stout.
Event founders said they were inspired by a first year student who, instead of walking to class as most students do, rode a unicycle across campus.
At REVERB, Clark students demonstrated how to use old jeans to make rugs; while others used them as a canvas on which to educate about sexual violence. Student from the Clark Bars and the Counterpoints held a cappella or vocal jam workshops, while students from the Shenanigans and the Peapod Squad taught improv. Others with a flair for the visual arts made sculptures, collaborated on murals and created silly putty from common household ingredients. Some Clarkies showcased their strength and skills in weightlifting, martial arts and circus juggling.
“The most rewarding part is seeing how much fun everyone is having,” said Driscoll the day of the event, as she walked in the sun to each demonstration. “It’s wonderful to see so many different kinds of people coming together and demonstrating such a variety of creative endeavors.”
As the day went on and the wind picked up, a student who was reciting poetry moved away from the acoustic stage to a sunnier spot and joined the percussion circle nearby. Students were impressed as the poet and percussionists improvised and played off each other’s performances in creative ways.
“That’s exactly the type of interaction we were aiming for!” said Sterjanaj.
According to Bishop, the hardest part of planning REVERB was getting the word out about the event.
Bishop praised administrators, student leadership, faculty and staff for their support.
“It was a tremendous amount of work to conceive of, plan, and implement a new event in only a few months, but these four students were incredible collaborators, both among themselves and with others in the Clark community,” said professor Moran.
The students hope that the event will become an annual tradition at Clark.
“It’s a great example of Clark’s LEEP initiative in action. Creativity, collaboration, adaptability, implementation, integration, responsibility—REVERB showcases all of that,” said professor Moran.
To learn more about REVERB, visit its website or Facebook .
~ Savannah Cooley ’16