Students use Dialogos as a “free day”
Senior Riley Parks and sophomore Colby Bullock present their research at Dialogos on April 10.
Dialogos is an opportunity for students to present their work via poster or oral presentations. Select students throughout all disciplines are rewarded with scholarships and awards to outstanding seniors in each department. During this day, no classes are held in order for students to focus on presenting and enjoy a day of recognition.
This event sounds beneficial in theory, but what students choose to do with this day of no classes varies. In an ideal setting, students will be eager and willing to compile research to present to their peers and professors. Students will be lining up out the door in order to see all the knowledge their classmates have to offer. Often times, this is not the case.
What do students really do on Dialogos you may be wondering?
- Partake in the glorious margaritas at El Patron
- Go fishing at the lake
- Sit around a bonfire with friends the night before
This is just a short list of activities students participate in during their day of no classes. To many Dialogos serves as a “free day” to do whatever they like. Some use it to their benefit to get caught up on homework, while others spend it doing recreational activities. The night before Dialogos, also dubbed as “Dialogos Eve” among students, can be a prime time to participate in various shenanigans given the fact that there are no classes the next day.
However, there are students that choose to go to Dialogos. Some of those students are required to do so for a class, but there are some that genuinely want to support their peers and get the true Dialogos experience.
Students should want to support their peers in the hard work they have done over the semester. However, the temptation of a doing whatever you like is always there, often times not involving watching a presentation.
Dialogos comes at a point in the year where the stress of the semester is mounting. Dialogos is typically on a Wednesday and serves as a great mid-week break. Whether you choose to spend this free day presenting your own research, supporting peers or in a booth at El Patron, that choice is yours. Dialogos can serve as a day to present research that you are extremely proud of or simply a much-needed break. The concept of Dialogos means well but how students choose to spend the day, dramatically varies.
