Matthew Tackles Social Media Strategy and Campaigns

Who would have thought we’d be here? Not me... Not me...  For real though, I absolutely could not have predicated we would be here right now. Before coming to campus, I was looking at the COVID-19 numbers per county in Ohio and I assumed we would be leaving for online classes a week after we got here. I had no faith we would survive more than a couple weeks. To my surprise, we finished an entire semester!  I am really grateful we finished an entire semester in person. I was able to regain confidence as a singer, actor and dancer through my training as a musical theater major. I didn’t think I would be able to learn anything in my Shakespeare class with a mask on with everyone six feet apart, but I ended up learning so much! The same applies to every class I’ve had this semester. I learned a lot in my dance classes this semester! At the end of the semester one of my teachers told our class how proud she was for how quickly we were able to pick up on combinations by the end of t...

I simply do not want to be typing this blog post. I'm doing it because I am almost at a 90% in this class and I don't want to lose an easy ten points by simply neglecting an assignment. Instead of ignoring my blogging responsibility for the week, I decided to use this time to write about not wanting to do it in the first place, as this is all I can think about right now. How meta of me to write this blog post about not wanting to write one at all! I am currently on a break during my last rehearsal for "Blocked!" The show opens tomorrow, and both casts are rehearsing tonight and running the show one last time. The show is double cast because there are only four characters in the show and the department wanted more than four people to get an opportunity to perform.  Tech week is the week where all the technical aspects are introduced to a show. Usually these aspects include lights, sound, the orchestra, costumes, hair, makeup, etc. However, for our online show, the acto...

  Next weekend Ohio Northern University's first online musical premieres. The show is called "Blocked!" and was written specifically for Zoom by Ben Wexler. It isn't as cringeworthy as other streamed shows because the characters embrace the online platform instead of ignoring it and pretending they're all in the same room together. I will be making my assistant directing debut with this show. I have helped shape the show from the beginning and coach the two casts with their songs and scenes to get them in the best shape possible. I have always wanted to get into directing and this experience has been so wonderful! Just the other night when I sent my notes via email to the casts I told them how wonderful it has been to see them take the notes I have been giving them and embodying them. A couple of them wrote back and told me how great it has been having me be a part of the production. "All of your notes are so smart and I'm really grateful for them, so I j...

This past Saturday, I was on a run with my boyfriend after we went to the gym. Both of us did not workout throughout the spring or summer, because of coronavirus fears. However, coming back to school we felt comfortable enough with the new rules put in place to keep us safe, like a limited amount of people allowed in the gym and temperature checks at the door, to begin working out again. We have been working out almost everyday since getting back on campus. We usually work on biceps, chest, triceps, shoulders, and abs, but we recently started adding more cardio into our routine.  At first we thought the dance classes we were taking would be cardio enough for us, but with no rehearsals in the evenings, we decided to up our cardio by picking up running again to lose that little bit of weight still left over from five months of sitting at home. Anyways, as I was saying, we were running on Saturday around campus and we ended up by the track and I was suddenly taken back to my cross cou...

For this week's blog post I wanted to share some of the pictures I have been taking these last couple of weeks. I've been thinking a lot about how this is my last year at Ohio Northern University, ever since getting back on campus five weeks ago. I realized I will soon be shoved out into the real world, much like a mama bird pushing her baby out of the nest, and be forced to support myself financially and take on all sorts of adult responsibilities. I also kept in mind how quickly everything could be taken away like last spring if we happened to get another outbreak of the new coronavirus. With this in mind, I told myself I was going to soak in every last moment I had on campus, and try to appreciate the beauty this campus has to offer. I want to be able to remember the four years I spent here because I met some amazing people and learned so much, so I started whipping out my phone and snapping a picture of anything I found beautiful. I frequently do this when I see a great vie...