Student Blog: Stepping Into the Final Year

After a week’s worth of organization, meetings and rehearsals, it has only just occurred to me how much I am going to miss all of this. I’d just returned from my very last Fresher’s Fayre and I write this blog in a whirlwind of emotions. This marks the end of our very last Welcome Week, and also a final blog for the start of a university term. It’s actually quite scary writing this blog knowing I will never write another one like this this time next year. Many lasts this year but it’ll all be very exciting.

As final year student representatives, or what we call STARs, we’re stepping up our game and taking on bigger responsibilities. There will be so much more for me to share as I balance my responsibilities as student and a STAR in musical theatre as well as many other miscellaneous things on the side! I have always liked keeping myself busy so, there’ll be much to share!

There is already much to share from the events of this week, but as usual, this is a routinely welcome blog to the new semester of a new academic year and an introduction to the things I have in store for me in my final year at the Winchester University. If you are new here, hello! I am a third-year musical theatre student. If you have read a blog of mine before, welcome back!

I tend to write these blogs across the span of a few days. While the earlier parts had been written during the Welcome Week, I write this bit after having my final first day back into classes. As usual, we started off with an introduction session to one of our newest modules called Technique and Repertoire. We will be filming a number of reels by the end of the semester so there is much to prepare across our singing, dancing and acting submodules. There is much we are yet to know across this week’s introduction but things are already kicking off with some of the summer holiday material we have had to work on.

The other modules we are yet to hear about are Theatre Company and our Final Showcase (which is probably the most self-explanatory!). Theatre Company is a more theoretical module as it focuses on the business aspect of theatre, hence its name. From what we have been told, its main focus is on the paperwork of setting up a show, reaching out to theatres to inquire about their hire, and all the other formalities that come with it. It’s pretty cool how the course allows us to experience these different aspects of theatre in the case we want to explore the field beyond performing.

We have had multiple different modules across the theatre field that has allowed us to explore more than just singing, dancing, and acting on the surface. Some of these modules that I have covered were our Swing project with a Come From Away revue, producing, musical directing, to name a few.

As for what’s in store for me as a STAR, there are plenty of events ahead of us. Cabarets, showcases, our Leaver’s Ball and many meetings for the future of the course. Maybe in a future blog I might interview my little troop of STARs about their experiences in the board and what it’s like for them to take on this opportunity. Presently, there are four of us but in time, and very possibly soon, we will have our fifth and final one!

The most recent endeavor we had the pleasure of hosting was a performance of ‘Welcome to Wonderland’ from Wonderland the Musical and a scavenger hunt for the course during our Welcome Week as a fun aid for the first years to explore the campus for their classes. That’s only the beginning of the things we’re going to do.

Thank you for staying with me throughout this journey. It is actually quite hard trying to come to terms that this is my last year here, and when I’m done, I don’t really know where I’ll be headed. Not because I don’t know what I’m going to do but I don’t know where the year will take me. Anything could happen which is fun part of it but it’s made me appreciate having the fixed schedules of university a lot more. Now, I’ve got plenty of harmonies to learn on the second day of the semester so I’ll see you in the next blog!