It was really interesting to note that the level of community engagement was associated with the amount of creativity put into the scene. I loved the kid’s voices and felt that it made the scene much more receptive and fulfilling. It really has me thinking about the bigger meaning of this class and how the things we choose to watch, listen, and pay attention to end up being the ideas we manifest.

I loved everyone’s scenes put together to analyze as an adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. It gave me a lot of perspective into stage and screen, and life itself. The kids were all able to play a part in some way (of course, not really my group and I’m sad about it, but everyone was awesome). I hope that the kids remember ideas that we have creatively shared and taught them. I feel that the new scripts were a very enriching way of learning about the social issues we now must face in society. Whatever issues you face, just know that everyone else faces them as well. The connection comes from being impacted.

I feel as though I have never felt more civically engaged, between this class and the other Jepson classes I am apart of this semester. Having acknowledged that Jepson doesn’t necessarily teach us what to think, but rather how to think. Engaging with the City of Richmond, the once Capital of the Confederacy, during the Black Lives Matter movement, is incredibly fulfilling. I registered to vote in Richmond, and got to feel — in person (with a mask) — what it was like to be a civically engaged human being in these soon-to-be historical times.