Why "Holiday" is "Spectacular"

Even though it is almost Thanksgiving, I had to make this post about “ONU’s Holiday Spectacular.” If you spent any amount of time around The Freed Center this past week you probably heard someone mention “Holiday Spectacular.” “ONU’s Holiday Spectacular” is a Christmas themed musical that hits the stage every year right before Thanksgiving. Working in the box office at Freed, I can tell you there are four shows at ONU and four additional shows in Lima after break, and they all sell out every year. 

This year marks 20 years running for the “ONU Holiday” show. It’s a show not only popular among students on campus but largely popular with people in the Lima and surrounding communities. The show draws in crowds of all ages: retired couples who have been coming since the show’s inception, college couples looking for a fun date night and families with their young children. 

I look forward to “Holiday Spectacular” every year. I was genuinely anxious about seeing the show two whole weeks in advance because I love it that much. It truly has everything you could ask for in a holiday show: snowmen, toy soldiers, elves, the Nativity story, small children and everyone’s favorite, SANTA CLAUS! But what’s my favorite part…

I love the show for three reasons. First, the cast is beyond talented. I have class with many of the students from the cast so I see them on a regular basis, but I love being able to see them shine on stage outside of the classroom. It almost makes me feel like I have class with celebrities, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t envy them and their roles in “Holiday.” 

Next, I love the show because it’s beautiful. The set, the costumes and the lighting of this show make it seem as if an old holiday greeting card came to life. Everyone looks so well-dressed and warm in their coats, hats and scarves. And, I found myself tearing up when snow begins to fall softly from the sky while everyone sings with smiling faces and rosy cheeks against a starry backdrop. 

But, my all-time favorite part of “Holiday” is when the sleeping toy soldier awakes and begins singing about being a Radio City Rockette and is joined by a fleet of other toy soldiers who do an intricate tap number modeled after the one done by the real Radio City Rockettes.  I love this number because I have always dreamed of being a Radio City Rockette, and I never pass up the chance to see great tap dancing. It just makes me so happy inside. If there is any part I would kill to play in “Holiday” it’s the role of the Radio City Rockette toy soldier. 

I could go on and on about how much I love “Holiday.” I could watch it over and over again and never get bored. I don’t think I stop smiling during the entire performance. If you haven’t seen “ONU’s Holiday Spectacular” yet, YOU SHOULD. You can still get tickets for shows in December at The Civic Center in Lima. You won’t be disappointed, and you will walk again feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Great job to everyone in the cast and crew, you are all fantastically talented

Reputation Management: PolarBearUp Style

Chapter 11 of Katie Paine’s book “Measure What Matters” discusses how a crisis can damage a company’s reputation and steps to prevent one from happening. That being said, I would like to discuss what I have observed about the way ONU handles crisis situations. Paine says companies need to have a system in place to analyze what is being said, how the company is being positioned and what messages are being delivered. Paine also says if you are doing—or perceived to be doing—something wrong, bad or hurtful, chances are people will report it somewhere in social media. 

Based on the way I have seen ONU handle issues in the past, I don’t think the university is doing a very good job following Paine’s advice, and ONU rarely pays attention to what people are saying on social media. Let me set the scene for you.

Last year when we experienced one of the coldest harshest winters on record, social media EXPLODED with reasons and pleas for the university to cancel class. The student body got so infuriated about having to walk across campus in the freezing weather conditions a hashtag issued by the university was used by the student population to bash the school and protest via social media. The way students rallied together on social media in an effort to have their voices heard was an impressive form of a social community that escalated VERY quickly, and I feel privileged to say I participated in it.

ONU did eventually cancel classes. I cannot say for certain if the cancellation had to do with the posts on social media.  Regardless of why the university decided to close, the damage had already been done. Students had already taken the hashtag “polarbearup” and posted on social media with comments blatantly bashing the school. Certain high profile decision makers at the university were even called out, by name, followed by #polarbearup.  If a potential student (or anyone really) had decided to search #polarbearup or ONU on Twitter they would have gotten a VERY bad impression of the student experience here. 

What is even more impressive is the infamous polarbearup hashtag lives on today. Students still use it when referring to how badly ONU handles student safety in regards to bad weather. The bottom line is ONU’s reputation took a hit because of the way it handled this issue and failed to listen to what was said on social media. 

Let me also say this isn’t the only instance where ONU has neglected to address an issue and then received backlash on social media for it. I could write a whole new post about the time a murderer escaped from prison in Lima and ONU NEVER encouraged students to take extra caution. The takeaway from all of this is ONU has developed a bad reputation among the student body because of the way it handles certain issues prompting students to take these issues to social media without mercy. I think ONU has a thing or two to learn from Chapter 11 of Paine’s book about how a crisis can threaten your reputation.

ONU in Every Season

Campus last year during a record cold winter.

If there is one thing I have noticed after four years at ONU it’s that campus is beautiful in every season. The fresh snow we received this week was a reminder of the beauty of campus despite the chill of Mother Nature. Some people may be complaining about the snow; however, there is something special about walking through campus covered in a blanket of white flakes, and I’m not talking about the slipping and sliding part.

Green grass and sunshine on the tundra in summer.

I love walking through campus and seeing everything that was once green in the spring and red or orange in the fall now covered with snow in the winter. There is something about seeing the landscape I pass every single day turned into a winter wonderland that feels like an inherent part of being a student at ONU. You couldn’t possible say you had the full ONU experience until you have walked across campus in so many warm layers you become unidentifiable.

Orange and red leaves in the fall.

 Even though I think the snowy landscape is part of the identity of ONU, it can’t be overlooked that campus looks gorgeous in every season. Just as the trees look beautiful covered in snow, they also look beautiful in the fall when they turn every shade of red and orange.

In the spring and summer, the green of the grass and the trees on the tundra is almost blinding. After a long cold winter there is nothing as refreshing as walking across campus with the sun on your face.

The grass slowly coming back to life the spring.

Even if you are not a fan of the cold and the snow, at least take time to enjoy how dreamy it makes campus look. Know that drudging through the snow is part of being a polar bear, and reflect on the colors of campus in the fall while looking forward to sunshine in the spring.

Alumni Happenings: A Movie

Due to the rise of citizenship journalism, everyone in my social media class had to create a video using iMovie. My video topic was alumni happening. For my video I contacted several of Northern's PR alumni and asked them to send me videos describing their "real world" jobs and how their time at Northern prepared them for their work today.

 

Thanks to the help of Katie Hozan, Candace Kaiser and Lauren Stahl, I was able to put together this video about what some of ONU's talented alumni are up to these days. Hopefully one day I can help out an ONU PR student as Katie, Candice and Lauren helped me.

This was the first time I have ever used iMovie or created my own video so the experience was challenging and time consuming. However, as a video rookie, I am fairly pleased with how the movie turned out. Please feel free to take a few minutes to hear about what great things ONU PR majors go on to do after graduation.

Getting it Right: Measuring Events

Chapter 7 of Paine’s book “Measure What Matters” is all about measuring the impact and success of special events. This particular chapter really resonated with me because I am an officer for a group on campus in which the officer body had problems determining the goals and effectiveness of a particular event.

The organization I am a part of has held a certain event several times over the past three years. The first few times the event was held the objectives seemed fairly obvious (even though we never really talked about them as an officer body) and no one really questioned the effectiveness of the event.

However, the past couple of times the event has been held we realized different officers had differing opinions of the objectives of the event and therefore people attending the event were getting mixed messages.

As officers we realized we needed to sit down and discuss the event in detail. Paine outlines seven steps to measure events and the first step is defining objectives. As I found out with my organization this is much easier said than done. I remember having several LONG officer meetings debating on the most effective objectives and how we planned to achieve those objectives in a tangible way.

I also remember having LONG meetings after the event to discuss and evaluate whether or not we met our newly outlined objectives. Turns out, the tactics we had set in place to reach our objectives actually caused us to achieve something completely different. I had to sit back and laugh a little when I realized our event had been successful, but not in the way we had planned and hoped. Next time we need to follow Paine’s steps for success more closely.

This experience just goes to show Paine’s steps for measuring and events are extremely important. Even though putting measurement in place for an event might not always be easy or exciting it is necessary in order to achieve the objectives you painstakingly outline prior to the event. 

Wish-ful Thinking

This week two of my favorite guys have birthdays. My boyfriend’s birthday was yesterday and my brother’s birthday is tomorrow.

All these birthdays have me thinking about the infamous birthday wish. You all know what I am talking about. After the candles are lit and you endure the awkwardness of having your friends and family sing to you it’s time to blow out the candles and make a wish.

Most of us have heard the myths about birthday wishes: You can’t tell anyone your wish or it won’t come true and you have to blow out all the candles at once or you won’t get your wish. I am not extremely superstitious, but I have always considered birthday wishes to hold a lot of weight. It’s a wish you only get to make on your special day once a year during a time signifying another chapter of life with everyone watching. The birthday wish is serious!

I was surprised to learn some people don’t make birthday wishes; they simply blow out the candles. Those people are doing it wrong. What’s the point of blowing out the candles if you don’t make a wish?

Then there are the people who argue they can’t think of a wish. Those people are lying to themselves. You have the entire happy birthday song to think of a good wish.

I also had a few friends tell me instead of making a wish they say a quick prayer and reflect on being thankful for another year. I thought this was a cool twist on the traditional birthday wish.

I want to hear from you. Did you stop making birthday wishes when you were five or do you still make them every year? Do you wish on other things like shooting stars and 11:11 or stick to a strictly no wish policy? Regardless of what you think, one thing is for sure, I will be making a birthday wish when I turn 22 in January!