Accompanied by Professors Janeve West, Julie Andrews, Ian Moschenross, and Stacy Lotz, these students slept, stayed, ate and experienced the streets of Chicago from Oct. 23-24 free of charge.

     Students included Melissa Lindsay, Hang Nguyen, Tim Seyller, Francis Timothy, Lauren Francis, Jack Clifford, Jenny Erbes, Kassandra Heald-Schmelzer, Sarah Kindt, Aubreigh Moon, Ken Yeater, Nick Munson, and Arjun Ahluwalia.

     Festivities included watching Richard III at Navy Pier’s Shakespeare Theater, a visit to the Chicago Art Institute, meeting with fine arts alumni, and attending the Chicago Opera’s production of "Ernani."

     Each student was hand-chosen by the faculty members of the various fine arts departments. They demonstrated a high degree of knowledge and experience in their particular field of fine arts and each has dedicated a significant amount of time, effort, and passion into their prospective majors of Art, Music, and Theatre.

     "This is a great way to reward those who have had purposeful participation," says West. "This is a very selective group of students."

     The Chicago trip is just one of the many events on campus with Fine Arts Month, a celebration that has been taking place across campus in the hopes of making the campus more aware of how much arts impact every aspect of society.

     The month long celebration has included other events, such as the production of Fat Men In Skirts, a choir concert, and a gallery opening at the Buchanan Center for the Arts. The fine arts departments at Monmouth have collaborated their time, skills, and ideas to find opportunities to be more intentional in their "Seriously Creative" work.