I have always considered myself a planner. Whether it is planning to complete various assignments to making plans with friends, I like to stay organized. Therefore, when Sarah said that Aaron and I were going to have to plan an event for International Education Week, I was excited. At the same time, however, I found it daunting. Throughout my time at Penn State, I have assisted with the planning of various events and conferences with the clubs I am involved in. However, never before had I been given such open-ended instructions: Aaron and I could plan the event in whatever format and on whatever (global and timely) topic we wanted! While this was a little daunting, I knew that we would be able to put together a great event, and knew that Sarah, Mary, and Emily would be there to help us.

The fact that Aaron and I are both in the same History of Fascism and Nazism class made the topic selection easier, as we soon realized that we should involve our professor, Dr. Guettel. Thus, most of the planning went smoothly, and the next time I have to plan something similar, I do not think that I will feel so intimidated. However, one of the biggest lessons that I learned was that you cannot expect people to respond as quickly as you would like them to. Even though Aaron the reaching out to other potential panelists, it was still very frustrating to hear that people were not communicative or responsive in a timely manner. It made the process of finding speakers incredibly difficult. I think that this was definitely the biggest obstacle we had to overcome in the planning stages. However, the frustration paid off, and the panelists that we did have speak were all very informed, well spoken, and easy to work with.

Overall, when it came to the night of the event, I think that it went really well! I believe that the three speakers—Dr. Guettel, Mr. Reuning, and Mr. Morabito, all of whom spoke on different aspects of Fascism—gave the evening a unique edge. By including the history of fascism, as well as fascist and alt. right movements from an international politics and United States politics perspective, it was an engaging talk for individuals of all disciplines and interests. Additionally, not only was the content informative, the event was also well attended. The audience was engaged and participated in the discussion that followed the presentations. Therefore, I definitely believe that all of the hard work and planning for this event paid off.

-Katie Bartuska

 

On October 24, my fellow intern Katie and I got to host our event “Echoes of 20th CenturyFascism on Modern Politics and Culture” after a long and arduous period of planning – it wasn’t easy!

Finding a venue and time was easy, thanks to the help of Sarah, Mary, and Emily, but finding speakers was the difficult part. I had to have sent out emails to at least 30 professors and graduate students before we finalized with Dr. Jens-Uwe Guettel, Doctoral Candidate Kevin Reuning, and graduate student Brad Morabito.

Despite the strenuous task of finding the speakers, I could not have asked for more knowledgable or engaged speakers than the three gentlemen that we had. It was evident that each was an expert in their field not only in their well-organized presentations, but in their responses to questions from the crowd after they presented.

On that note, the crowd honestly surprised me. We had over 20 participants, more than I wouldhave expected, and all of them were entertained, engaged, and interested in the discussion. I had some friends from my political science and history courses, and they all gave me encouraging words about the event since they knew that I had helped plan it. Them being there meant a lot for me because I know how busy their course schedules are, yet they made time to support me and learn about fascism – not necessarily the most fun of topics.

The CGS staff was also very commendable through it all and helped make it a huge success. Katie helped immensely with planning, organizing, and hosting with me, while Sarah, Emily, and Mary helped with the logistics and made it possible to pull of the event seamlessly. Their expertise in event hosting really showed.

All in all, it was a pleasant experience that taught me valuable communication skills, event planning, and communication among speakers, colleagues, and school faculty. Moving forward, due to the lessons learned from emailing professors, I will have to start planning events about two months out, at least!

– Aaron Morris