Student Blog: Back To School... in -13°

This semester has been a whirlwind of little sleep, even less food, and a lot of shivering. I'll admit I did this to myself; taking on so many tasks. I've had little to no time to myself with my crazy schedule, but there's no place I'd rather be.

Before delving into my chaotic life, why don't I start by introducing myself. My name is Mia Dotson. I am a sophomore B.A. Musical Theater Major at the University of Northern Colorado. I've grown up in Colorado my whole life, and have thrived in the music and theatre scenes here. I feel thankful to have such a good school for my program only 40 minutes from home, although sometimes I wish there was more distance between me and my hometown.

I am currently taking 6 classes for my major including, jazz dance ll, song analysis ll, beginning directing, acting lll, voice lessons, and individual performance in technology (IP). I considered taking another 2 academic classes, but my friends were (thankfully) a voice of reason and dissuaded me away from that decision. My favorite class, otherwise known as the one I am most motivated to attend, is song analysis. We work in voice lessons on one of four songs throughout the semester. Then we are coached by our professor in front of our peers in order to grow our circumstances and character behind the song. I personally feel like both my classmates and I have made a lot of growth and progress in the last couple of months. There are only 16 of us in the 2025 class, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say we all have made long lasting relationships with one another.

The class that keeps me the most busy is IP. As a performance major we are required to fulfil our time working in the tech shops or behind the scene in a show. I was asked to be the assistant stage manager for our current spring musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. This week we have begun to do full tech, and we all know what that means... Little sleep, little food, and lots of tears. All jokes aside this is an incredible experience for me as a performer and I've loved making memories with the cast and crew. Currently, we are plagued with covid, halting our progress and confining our Cinderella, the understudy to Cinderella, our choreographer, and five other cast members to quarantine. Fun times. However, the show must go on, so we are trudging through the obstacles, hoping for the 'tech week stress week' quote to dissipate.

Outside of my classes and rehearsals I also help manage all social media accounts for UNC, including our instagram, tiktok, facebook, twitter, and soon our snapchat. When I'm not filming squirrels or bothering students around campus I have another job as a local princess performer. If you're wanting to catch a small glimpse of what my day to day life looks like, click below and enjoy the pleasantries of my sleep deprivation and delirious video footage.

The spring semester described in one word? Busy. You might be asking yourself how I find the time to sleep, and I have no real answer for you... but as a Musical Theater Major, it tends to be an occupational hazard, and like I said, there's no place I'd rather be.

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