Jenna Clark
September 14, 2015 To whom it may concern:
I am a senior dance minor this year, and your Capp and Dagger Dance Representative. I am writing to inform you of my position regarding the TAP banquet end of year awards.
Let me begin by saying that I am a recipient of one of these awards; I was honored with the Dance Award as a sophomore. I believe these awards can be very valuable to a student’s learning and education. When a student receives one of these awards it makes them feel recognized by their professors, and gives them validation for the work they have put in over the year. This feeling of recognition and validation is crucial to a student’s potential, if one does not feel like their work and effort is recognized it may give them the idea to give up and stop trying. For any student, especially in the arts to effectively grow as an artists, they need to be told what they are doing is being noticed and received. These awards also give the student a sense of healthy competition, to keep them from becoming comfortable in what they already know. Healthy competition is a great way to make artists work harder, especially in the dance area. Also, as being one of the students who have received one of these awards, I can honestly say it has been a positive experience. When I received the award I finally felt like I was being seen among all of my peers, and not just blending into the background. Having received the award has made me work even harder each year, so that I can continually improve and prove to those who voted to give me the dance award, that I truly deserved it.
That being said, if the awards are kept, I think making them more specific would help differentiate the work of one student from the work of another. I think it is important that students also know why they are receiving the award; I was never given a reason for why I got the dance award as a sophomore. Doing that can help eliminate confusion and judgement among peers, especially since we all excel at different things, I think establishing specific criteria a person needs to meet in order to receive the award and giving out less of them in the same area would be helpful. This would make the awards more competitive and more deserving, awards should not go to a person just because they have not received one yet; they should have to be recognized for exceptional work.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to my view, and I hope you consider keeping these awards.
Jenna Clark