For my first co-op at Antioch I’ve chosen the Media Services Assistant position on campus. So far it’s gone pretty well, with some ups and downs. My main job is to help set up audio and visual equipment for events all over campus ranging from parties and dances to the smallest club meetings. My most consistent setup is Anime Club’s Karaoke Night every Saturday. Every time I stay for the night to sing with my friends and club members, I have an absolute blast. It’s run by Chance and Julia, and they always make it so much fun to attend. They encourage everyone to get out of their comfort zone by singing songs that you wouldn’t typically sing around others.
Another amazing event—one you would only find at Antioch—was Camelot. For anyone who doesn’t know, it is a 100 lap bike race around a small section of Morgan Place. The biggest catch to this race is everyone along the sidelines is allowed to throw compost juices and scraps at you as you race. Like I said, only at Antioch. But this event was weirdly fun to participate in, as I was on the sidelines NOT having stuff thrown at my face. It’s open for anyone in the community to come and participate in as long as you don’t bring anything particularly gruesome or disgusting. It was the first time in three years since this event happened, and everyone involved certainly felt the built-up excitement. Tons of people showed up, and the racers were having a great time regardless of the refuse being thrown their way.
I’ve also had the pleasure of setting up a film made by a student named Lola Nelson Betz. Her film was made as part of a class project, and it was fun to help set it up and talk to friends as I did. Everything went smoothly and everyone had a great time with each other as they watched the film. Another quick event I got to help set up for was the DIV Dance. Now, this was possibly the hardest setup I’d had to do by far. We had to set up speakers on stands, a subwoofer, projector, a DJ’s mixer, and making all of it work together was extremely difficult. In the end, we made it work and everyone had an absolutely fantastic time dancing at the time-travel-themed event.
As we near the end of the quarter and this co-op position comes to an end, I had a lot of fun learning all these different technical skills that I will be able to use in future jobs in a similar field. I was able to meet a lot of really cool people and do things that I never knew about before taking this job. Plus, this position is a good way to explore campus, to meet people and connect with students you wouldn’t have talked to otherwise. I hope others consider taking this job and working with David Adkins in Media Services. He’s an amazing boss and helps you learn these new skills at an easy pace to get the work done.
