Alumna Aubrey Keller (’20) recently received an Outstanding Witness award and tied for Top Witness in American Mock Trial Association’s (AMTA) One Last Time National Tournament. Held in late July, the One Last Time Tournament featured teams of graduating seniors who are getting a chance to compete “One Last Time” in college mock trial.
Keller, an Honors Program graduate who majored in English with a minor in Mandarin Chinese, participated on Belmont’s Mock Trial Team for three years, where she competed both as an attorney and a witness. “Based on the experience I gained at Belmont, I was able to help my teammates revise work product and prepare objection responses at the One Last Time tournament,” said Keller, who received the Outstanding Witness award after earning 22 ranks from the judges, resulting in a tie with a Stanford graduate for top witness of the whole tournament.
Keller works as a team trainer and promoter for American Home Design RainSoft, a locally-owned company, and is also pursuing a Master’s in English at Middle Tennessee State University.
Watch the closing ceremony here, where the witness awards are announced at timestamp 6:33.
The Best American Essays 2020 anthology recently recognized the Belmont Story Review Vol. 4., a national magazine of literary arts, faith and culture produced by Belmont University’s publishing program.
The anthology listed “Mirrors” by David Armand, an essay previously published in the Belmont Story Review Vol. 4, as a Notable Essay. Additionally, the anthology also listed the Belmont Story Review Vol. 4 in its totality as a Special Notable Issue. This prestigious honor is credited to former Editor and Director of Publishing Richard Sowienski.
To find out more about the Belmont Story Review or to submit a piece, you can visit their website here.
The Public Relations Society of America Nashville Chapter recently honored several Belmont graduates and students at the 2021 Parthenon Awards Banquet at City Winery.
Belmont Class of 2013 alumna and Senior Director of Marketing Communications at New Classrooms Michelle Ward received several awards at the event. The first was the 2021 Mercury Award, which recognizes a young professional for accelerated career progress, leadership potential, community involvement and professionalism. Ward also received 2021 Parthenon Awards in the integrated communications and marketing categories. Prior to these awards, Ward previously received the 2016 PR Platinum Award for Branding/Re-Positioning.
Belmont students Emma dela Pena, Lexi Stewart, Katie McAdams (Class of 2020) and Nicole Jones (Class of 2021) received an Award of Merit for their OpenTable campaign entitled “Picture Present: Adapting to a Digital Landscape.” This campaign was conducted throughout the duration of the fall 2020 PR Campaigns class.
Belmont honors student Rose Kores, a freshman legal studies major, was one of 518 youth from 42 states across the nation honored at the Congressional Award Foundation’s annual Gold Medal Ceremony for earning the Congressional Award Gold Medal. The Congressional Award is the United States Congress’ only charity and the highest honor bestowed upon a youth civilian through the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, recognizing initiative, service and achievement.
Each Gold Medalist must complete 400 hours of voluntary public service, 200 hours of personal development, 200 hours of physical fitness and conduct a 5-day, 4-night exploration trip over the course of two years at minimum. See the full listing of all 2021 Gold Medalists here.
In order to complete the voluntary public service section of the Congressional Award, Kores partnered with a multitude of different organizations that addressed different community needs. For instance, she volunteered at Girl Scout recruitment events, the House of Hope thrift shop and food pantry, the Four C’s and her local soup kitchen. Kores worked with children at the Boys and Girls Club, the YMCA, various pediatric cancer organizations, shoe drives, food drives and healthcare worker card drives. She also planned and executed camping trips and road trips to fulfill the exploration chapter of the award, as well as participated in choir, drama and Girl Scouts as a part of the personal development portion.
Kores said, “This award opened my mind up to the endless amount of possibilities and needs in every community, as well as expanded upon my goals and morals.”
Presented by Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., (Otsuka), this year’s virtual event was themed “Bright Futures” and included interactive workshops with Members of Congress and industry experts on a range of topics including mental health, STEM, entrepreneurship and government. While the topics were diverse, each session’s speakers focused on the bright future ahead after an unprecedented year.
Paxton Baker, Chairman of the Board for The Congressional Award, kicked off the procession with a live keynote address, praising the award earners for their hard work, “The Congressional Award Gold Medal is Congress’ highest honor for youth civilians. After what you all have been through in the last year, to say that his honor is well-deserved is an understatement.”
In addition to live virtual workshops with Members of Congress and business leaders, medalists were personally spotlighted in a virtual procession that featured pre-recorded congratulatory messages from more than 100 members of the House and Senate.
Sugar in the Gas Tank is a rising Pop-Punk/Alternative band composed of four Belmont students aiming to bring back the early 2000’s punk scene. Nashville rock radio station, The Local Buzz, has recently been promoting the band’s new song “On My Own,” and the band was recently featured in The Local Buzz’s weekly article 5 Songs You Should Hear Right Nowfor the second time.
Curb College student Luke Dapuzzo, vocalist and guitarist, founded the band in Fall of 2019. Dapuzzo is joined by fellow Curb College students Reese Marshall on drums, CJ Christianson on guitar and Jack Samter on bass.
Previously featured on the list for their song “Bye,” released in November 2020, radio personality Andy Herrin continues to rave about the band’s latest July release, “On My Own.” Herrin writes, “When it comes to keeping the rock ‘n’ roll sound of pop punk alive, few do it better than Sugar In The Gas Tank…these guys have lyrics that take on more serious tones yet they never take themselves too seriously and that’s one of the many great things about them.”
With the highly-anticipated release of Nashville Ballet’s 2021-22 season lineup came the announcement that Nashville Ballet will collaborate with several local organizations to offer innovative and specially-curated performances as add-ons this season. In addition to the regular season, the Ballet will offer three spectacular debut performances in Belmont University’s brand new, world-class performing arts center (BUPAC) in June 2022. With the BUPAC ribbon cutting set for September 14, Nashville Ballet performances will be part of the venue’s inaugural season.
“Both Nashville Ballet and Belmont University have the unique advantage of being surrounded by such an incredibly robust arts scene, and we have a long history of working together to offer artists the space they need to thrive,” shared Nashville Ballet Artistic Director Paul Vasterling. “We’ve partnered together to present free performances to our community, house our Summer Intensive students from all across the country on their beautiful campus, and invite Belmont students to train on our campus while our dancers pursue degrees on theirs. For our company artists to have the opportunity to perform in a performing arts venue of this caliber right in our own city is unprecedented, and we are so honored to be continuing our long-valued partnership with Belmont by being a part of their inaugural BUPAC season.”
Nashville Ballet at Belmont will feature an exclusive sneak peek of award-winning choreographer Matthew Neenan’s newest piece commissioned by Nashville Ballet, the premiere of Associate Artistic Director Nick Mullikin’s pas de deux 2,192 Days, and Val Caniparoli’s Tutto Eccetto il Lavandino (everything but the kitchen sink). Music will be from Antonio Vivaldi, Sergei Rachmaninov and more.
Vasterling shared that the company’s artists and employees continued working throughout the pandemic so that when live performances could resume, Nashville Ballet would be able to bounce back stronger than ever. “Because our dancers have spent the last year honing their craft, we are able to present robust and technically-challenging works that showcase their artistry but, just as important, also allow our artists to connect with our audiences in a meaningful way,” he said in Nashville Ballet’s season release. “And that connection is what we’ve all missed the most over the last year.”
Other highlights of Nashville Ballet’s upcoming season include family-favorites Peter Pan and Nashville’s Nutcracker at TPAC, iconic contemporary works like Attitude and the highly-anticipated reprise of Vasterling’s nationally acclaimed Lucy Negro Redux. Other special add-ons to the regular season include a virtual opportunity in collaboration with the National Museum of African American Music, available to stream for free November 2021 – June 2022, and “Ballet Extravaganza with the Nashville Symphony” next May.
Season packages and individual tickets for Nashville Ballet’s 2021-22 season are on sale and can be purchased through their website or through their Box Office at 615-297-2966 x 710 or tickets@nashvilleballet.com.
About Nashville Ballet
Nashville Ballet is the largest professional ballet company in Tennessee. Nashville Ballet presents a varied repertoire of classical ballet and contemporary works by noted choreographers, including original works by Artistic Director Paul Vasterling. Nashville Ballet and the second company, NB2 (a pre-professional training company), provide more than 55,000 arts experiences to adults and children annually through virtual and in-person season performances and its Community Engagement programming. Curriculum-based Community Engagement programs bring hybrid learning dance education to community centers, colleges, public libraries, and public elementary, middle and high schools across the state. School of Nashville Ballet brings world-class in-studio, on-demand and outdoor dance instruction to students age 2 and up. To learn more about Nashville Ballet, please visit nashvilleballet.com.
Dr. Tisha Brown-Gaines, assistant professor of computer science, was selected to participate in two teaching workshops in July of this summer.
Workshop 1: Teaching Heterogeneous Computing
Teaching Heterogeneous Computing (ToUCH) is a training workshop intended for educators interested in incorporating heterogeneous parallel computing into their courses. The workshop introduced a collection of teaching modules covering a range of topics including GPU programming with OpenMP and CUDA, heterogeneous architectures, hybrid algorithms, task mapping and scheduling on heterogeneous systems. Dr. Gaines received hands-on training and guidance in adopting these modules in her own curriculum. Acceptance into the workshop was by application and a stipend of up to $1000 was provided to participants. Learn more about the workshop here.
Workshop 2: CHEESE
Dr. Gaines participated in a hands-on workshop on Cybersecurity. Cyber Human Ecosystem of Engaged Security Education (CHEESE) is a NSF-funded initiative that aims to build a community for instructors, learners and practitioners by sharing containerized virtual labs in the cloud. Cybersecurity is a very dynamic field, and designing hands-on labs for undergraduate students can assist in informing students on the complex concepts surrounding the topic. Opportunities provided to the workshop participants included cloud credits awards that can assist instructors in adopting the CHEESEHub project into their courses in Fall 2021 or Spring 2022. Learn more about this workshop here.
Stephanie Celada, a rising 3L at Belmont University College of Law, is the winner of the school’s second annual Legal Fiction Workshop for her story, “Diminished Capacity.” The piece tells the story of a young attorney struggling with the fallout of a complicated ethical decision.
Celada’s story was chosen by an outside reader panel, through an anonymized review process. In announcing their decision, the panelists released the following statement:
The judges of the Belmont Legal Fiction Workshop selected “Diminished Capacity” as this year’s winner. The judges felt that this story displayed a high level of creativity; polished writing craft, with excellent and organic dialogue; a compelling structure and narrative; emotionally resonant stakes; realistic character development; and a satisfying surprise ending. Also, the judges found that this story admirably illuminated the role of the law and lawyers in modern society. They extend their warmest congratulations to the story’s author.
Belmont’s Legal Fiction Workshop is conducted over the Spring semester as an extracurricular activity for a limited number of 2Ls and 3Ls, and is taught by Professor Kristi Arth, who designed the workshop as an incubator and space for students to produce creative work capable of publication.
Just a year after a successful merger with Watkins College of Art, Belmont University launched two new majors this fall within the Watkins College of Art at Belmont that will continue expanding on the excellent work already being done to prepare students for the thriving creative industries in Nashville and beyond: photography and illustration.
Internationally known for country music, Nashville is also a printing and publishing hub with a rapidly growing tech sector and consistently strong job market. The city, which ranked eighth on the Milken Institute’s 2020 and 2021 Best-Performing Cities Index, continues to employ legions of designers, illustrators and photographers at magazine, book and music publishers, ad agencies and other vibrant industries: education, healthcare, museums, technology, tourism and much more.
At Belmont, students have the opportunity to work closely with their professors who mentor them and leverage their network of creative professionals to assist with their development of professional-level portfolios to launch their careers.
Belmont’s Photography Program
The photography program at Belmont will empower students with the confidence and skills to thrive and be self-sufficient as image makers and responsible, thoughtful, cultural producers in an ever-changing field. Aside from building a creative foundation on skills and concepts within photography’s past, present and future, students will have opportunities to experiment with image-making to build their own unique visions and voices as photographers.
With two degree options, a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Fine Arts, all Belmont photography students will study the foundation of photography, a broad foundation in art history and intermediate techniques such as studio lighting, alternative printmaking and large format photography. Students work closely with professors to complete an ambitious thesis exhibition at the culmination of their degree.
The B.A. path is designed for students who are interested in combining a focused study in photographic practices with a minor or even a second major in another academic area such as media studies, business, sociology, English literature or art history. The B.F.A. path builds on the B.A. foundation but encourages more in-depth research and experimentation, leading to further honed skills and sensibilities for high-end photography in multiple media.
Students have access to analog and digital cameras, darkrooms, lighting studios, large format printers and alternative printmaking studios. Examples of courses include digital imaging, print making, darkroom and film photography, studio lighting, photo history and theory, as well as opportunities for collaborative work with other departments like film, music, architecture and fashion to learn techniques important for those industries. Students will have opportunities for exhibitions and internships to complement their classwork.
Learn more about Belmont’s Photography Program here.
Belmont’s Illustration Program
Through advertising, animation, books and games, illustration is ever-present today. And in our increasingly visual world, the demand for this visual storytelling medium has never been greater. Through the BFA in Illustration Program at Belmont, students focus on developing their creative hand and their inventive mind. The studio-based program provides the ideal path for students seeking an intense visual storytelling education with an entrepreneurial focus. Students will learn effective strategies for illustrating for diverse markets while demonstrating fluency in traditional and digital media.
On the journey to developing a distinctive illustration style and voice, students build on two years of foundational art, illustration and design courses, as well as a stimulating liberal arts curriculum. At the junior level students create increasingly sophisticated solutions in digital and non-digital environments. At the senior level, students refine their visual storytelling, conceptual and technical skills to produce a professional quality portfolio.
Throughout the program, students explore the entire illustration process, including conceptual and technical development in traditional and digital media. Students will take essential courses in figure drawing, character design and sequential art, the fundamentals of typography to better understand the relationship between words and images, picture book illustration, basic web development, fine art electives, art and design history, and special topics in illustration courses.
Students have access to sophisticated computer labs with current software and hardware, 3D printers and more, as well as fully-equipped drawing, painting, photography and printmaking labs. Students will graduate with entry level, professional-quality portfolios, prepared to launch their illustration careers.
Learn more about Belmont’s Illustration Program here.
Romans 5:3-4 teaches us that perseverance produces character and character produces hope. This week, 75 student leaders participated in the character-forming, hope-inspiring 2021 BOLD Moves Leadership Challenge (BMLC) offered by the Belmont Office of Leadership Development.
During this week-long training experience, students engaged in interactive learning activities facilitated by Belmont Student Life and University Ministries staff. Students used “The Student Leadership Challenge” by James Kousez and Barry Posner as well as “Belong” by Rhada Agrawal to craft their own personal philosophy of leadership. The BOLD Moves Leadership Challenge helped students find their voice, clarify their values and set the example by aligning their values with their actions.
BMLC participants volunteered to “Model the Way” of exemplary leadership during move-in week by moving both incoming freshmen and returning students into their dorms for three full days.
“This has been one of the most engaged and committed group of aspiring student leaders I’ve worked with in years,” said Dr. AdriAnne Sternberg, associate dean and director of Leadership Development. “Our diverse group of Belmont seniors, juniors and sophomores from almost every academic college helped positively impact the lives of thousands of students returning home to campus. BOLD student leaders persevered through challenging lessons, the pouring rain, hundreds of stairs and injected hope into what could have been a very hard day for families.”
Students attend BOLD training.
Belmont Senior Jack Burgoyne shared, “This experience was one of the best in my life. Thank all of you for bringing out the best of what it looks like to love God and love all people.”
A two-time BMLC participant also stated, “This BMLC surpassed 2019. The content and speakers were exquisite. The leadership and team leaders were remarkable and engaged so well with us. I am beyond proud and happy with this being my last BMLC.”
