After a two-year hiatus, the Glynn Program resumed its annual trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival held in Stratford, Ontario. Over 50 first-year Glynn Scholars participated along with Glynn faculty and staff. While there, Scholars attended three of the festival's productions, Shakespeare’s Alls Well that Ends Well and Richard III alongside Moliere’s The Miser.
Students remarked on the quality of productions, especially how they touched on current issues as much as those of the past. Kali Spalding, an English major, noted that she had “strayed away from Shakespeare’s plays in high school, believing his work to be unapproachable.” However, seeing the plays performed in a live venue rekindled her interest in his work. Likewise, Jack MapelLentz noted that viewing the plays gave him “greater historical understanding of the human condition and the strange things to which people seem to be predisposed.”
The Stratford Trip not only offers first-year Scholars a chance to take a cultural excursion, but also the opportunity to strengthen bonds. Physics major Adriana Baniecki remarked that she enjoyed getting to know other Scholars outside of the classroom. “I knew these girls enjoyed debating Hobbes and tossing around math proof problem-solving strategies,” she said, “but as we browsed through quaint shops, walked through the Stratford Shakespeare Park, and swapped stories in our hotel rooms, I grew closer to them as human beings….They truly became my friends.”
The Glynn Program looks forward to taking another group of first-year Scholars to Stratford next year where they will encounter Shakespeare and build new relationships.