Thursday, October 23, 2008

A reflection on placefest:

The most exciting event of last year was definitely Placefest. It took months of planning, lots of extra errands and meetings on top of heaping schoolwork, advertising around campus and on Learnlink weeks before, and many, many emails coordinating between various groups. But it all paid off. Julia, Alexa, and I gathered at 8am that morning to set up the kiosks around campus (I wanted to get them up before the first students started walking to class). The kiosks—which supplied information about Emory’s history around campus—were probably the most trouble because they would not stop blowing over. Eventually we worked out an effective system. The table was a little easier to set up and Anna came to help us get the paintings going. By 11am when Bobbi arrived everything was in full swing. We got press coverage from both the Wheel and the Emory Report and tons of students stopped by to write down their favorite place on campus, in exchange for candy and an “Emory” Coca-Cola. Their responses ranged from their dorm room to Lullwater and many were very unique. Students were also excited to paint their picture of Emory on the ever-morphing canvasses. And despite being the middle of Dooley’s week, the Emory as Place booth definitely caught the attention of everyone who came to Wonderful Wednesdays (student activity fair every Wednesday). The day flew by and before I knew it I had to run to CVS to start setting up for our guest speaker. With a little help from Ryan in the computer lab I managed to set up the room not only with power point capabilities, but I was also able to get a video camera to record Chris’ talk. Chris Velasco, founder and co-owner of PLACE-an ethical non-profit construction organization-spoke about what goes into planning of a sustainable living/working facility. I think the most important advice I took away was the benefit that comes from giving everyone an opportunity to have a say in the planning process of any major project. That way, in the end, everyone has a connection to the place. This was the third time I had heard Chris speak and he still swept me off my feet, such a motivational speaker. At one point during the question and answer session I asked him what had motivated him to do the work he did. He told me that you find something you love in life and you just go with it. I think that’s what convinced me to stick around here for another year to keep working with Emory as Place, in hopes that next year I can help make Placefest even better.

--jess, an Emory alum who has been working with Emory as Place since the summer of 2007

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