A little over a year ago I found out that I'd been accepted into Hunter College's incredible and prestigious Muse Scholar Program. Now, at the time, I didn't know much about the program other than that I'd be receiving free tickets to arts events all over the city and a nice scholarship. I accepted the opportunity without a second thought.
I'm finishing up my first year as a Muse scholar now and can confidently say that this community is so much more than free tickets and a scholarship. Being a Muse scholar means being surrounded by a circle of peers who come from all different walks of life with varying passions, skills, and majors. I've found almost all of my current closest friends through this silly course about poetry, theater, and dance, and have already formed what will most likely be some of my fondest memories from my young adulthood. And it's all thanks to our program's director and professor, Dara Meyers-Kingsley.
DMK, as we've so affectionately titled her, is the one-woman show who personally curated each and every one of us from a sea of hopeful applicants. She saw potential in our applications ranging from top-mark grades to passion for the arts and wanted to give us a space to explore our creative outlets while earning our educations. She doesn't care about our intended majors; she just wants to foster a blossoming atmosphere of creativity at Hunter College. She sees the value behind every artistic practice resulting in a diverse group of Muses; we have filmmakers, singers, dancers, painters, poets, writers, actors, musicians, and more. And, thanks to her, there is never a lack of opportunity to show off our talents, like the Activating the Urban Campus installation or the Muse Scholar Performing Arts Showcase.
Professor Meyers-Kingsley truly exhibits a deep care for her Muses and the program she's worked so hard to develop over the past few years. The first thing she ever told us, way back over the summer when we were all starting to introduce ourselves to one another, was that she "wears a lot of hats" around Hunter College, and she meant it. As the founder, director, and professor of the Muse program, the founder and head of the Office of the Arts, and a professional curator, DMK leads us in our artistic endeavors with experience, wisdom, and integrity. She genuinely wants to put on a good show, per se, and ensure that all of us, as performers, are enjoying ourselves. She never fails to offer valuable advice and constructive criticism, about art or life in general. She should really start to include "role model" as one of her many hats.
After taking a student-led tour of the Chelsea galleries for class last week, a few of my friends and I got to sit down for lunch with DMK and talk about art, summer plans, and the Muse program's conception. It was really humbling to hear how much work goes into choosing a select few of us to be a part of this amazing scholarship. It was also really cool to just talk about art with someone who has so much hands-on experience in the field.
This kind of program proves that there is so much real-world potential in liberal arts. I feel like being a Muse scholar is the inspiration I needed as a kid that I could actually be somebody in the world and still pursue my avocations. I'm so grateful every day for the opportunity to follow my artistic ventures in the greatest city in the world while getting my degree. I'm so grateful for the friendship this program has given me. And I'm so grateful for DMK bringing us all together. I will never regret choosing to be a Muse scholar.
