How do you define success?
Theatre and Film students perform at this week's launch of the IRIS Student Success Performance Cycle.
A basketball. A kitchen mixer. A pair of ballet slippers.
Not much in common on the surface, but to some on campus the items represent their personal and professional success.
Eight McMaster leaders shared their success stories this week at the launch of the IRIS Student Success Performance Cycle.
An acronym for “Inspiration, Reflection, Integrity, Success,” IRIS is a multimedia theatre production performed every September to welcome first-year students. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, the initiative has been expanded into a full-year project as part of a course offered by Theatre and Film Studies.
“We want to initiate a public conversation about what success means and how to create the conditions for students to achieve it,” says professor Catherine Graham, who is teaching the class and leading the initiative. Over the course of the year, her students will conduct open workshops to collect ideas and stories for the September 2014 production of IRIS.
Held in the T-13 Lab, the Performance Cycle kick-off event was attended by 50 members of the McMaster community. The eight speakers were asked to bring an object that represented success to them. From ballet slippers to a basketball to a cherished hat, objects were shared that triggered a fascinating range of stories.
Audience members were then asked to hold the object and complete the sentence, “This is the story of a person who…” This, in turn, led to funny, poignant and insightful feedback on the stories.
The eight McMaster leaders (in alphabetical order) were:
- Maroussia Ahmed, professor of French, and community advocate
- Patrick Deane, president and vice-chancellor
- Bonny Ibhawoh, associate dean (graduate studies and research), Faculty of Humanities
- Carys Massarella, assistant clinical professor (emergency medicine)
- Allison Sekuler, associate vice-president and dean of graduate studies
- Siobhan Stewart, graduate student and past president of the McMaster Students Union
- Sean Van Koughnett, associate vice-president (students and learning) and dean of students
- David Wilkinson, provost and vice-president (academic)
Upper-year McMaster students (third to fifth year) are invited to join fall workshops to share their own ideas and stories. Workshops geared to first- and second-year students will be held in the winter term. No previous drama experience is required. Students will be encouraged to use their Learning Portfolios to reflect on these creative explorations.
The project is funded by a Forward with Integrity grant and is part of the year-long festival, Spotlight on the Arts.
Visit OSCARplus to sign up for the workshops. Fall workshops will run from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., and dates are as follows:
October 7, 9, 16, 21, 28, 30
November 4, 6, 11, 18, 20, 25
