Relate is a creative outlet event that is held during the semester where students and teachers can get away from all their daily responsibilities and share their talents.
Relate was started a year ago by Daniel Ruiz, speech and theater instructor, and Farren Clark, speech instructor. Relate is an opportunity for students, faculty, staff and the Nicholls community to share their ideas based on one thing that is the theme for each night. People can express themselves with poetry, monologue, dance and vocal performance.
“It is more than just the sharing, but it is the relating as well,” Ruiz said. “It is about finding common ground with everyone’s diverse ideas of what relating really means.”
Every semester there are themes which are usually what the performances are about. The first Relate was held last Thursday themed “Relate to Passion”. Relate will also be held Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. themed “Relate to Right,” with hip-hop poet Propaganda as a guest speaker. “Relate to Empowerment” with Michele Caruso, director of Nicholls Counseling Center, as a guest speaker, will be March 21 at 7 p.m. “Relate to Break” will be April 5 at 7 p.m., “Relate to Joy” will be April 25 at 7 p.m.
Relate is funded by the Student Union and the Student Programming Association. The Student Programming Association is sponsoring Propaganda’s visit and performance in “Relate to Right” on Feb. 23.
“There is so much talent here at Nicholls, and Relate gives everybody the opportunity to share in a number of creative ways,” Clark said. “It is also an opportunity when you’re not in class listening to poetry where it is forced upon you. At Relate we can build bridges and make connections outside the classroom.”
Ruiz explained that Nicholls is a commuter campus where there are not many opportunities for people to come together outside of class.
“It is so hard to just go through college and not really open up,” Ruiz said. “We don’t talk about the things that matter to us and what we care about. Relate really offers that opportunity so we can get people’s hearts back into that college life.”
Clark said that Relate is different every time he attends. Students, faculty and the community come to see what each Relate has to offer.
“Expecting what can happen at Relate is one of the interesting things about Relate because you don’t know what to expect,” Clark said. “You have to be there to understand the experience. We are looking for more interesting answers to the questions that are asked during Relate.”
Clark and Ruiz like to get the audience involved with what the theme means to them. They frequently ask questions to get a reaction from the audience.
“At some open mic nights, there are readers that just get up and read, but Relate is about the conversation that happens,” Ruiz said. “We want to continue to nurture that conversation at Relate.”
Clark and Ruiz want students to learn about themselves when coming to Relate. Clark said that people can come to Relate and leave feeling more encouraged about their purpose here at Nicholls.
Elisha Dougan, business sophomore from Morgan City, explained that hopefully she can learn what her passion is through Relate. She was a speaker who shared one of her poems at “Relate to Passion” last Thursday.
“What inspires me to write my poetry is Relate because it gives me a chance to think of things on the spot,” Dougan said. “Relate is something that is on campus where you don’t have to be a part of a group to join and participate in.”
Dwayne Garner, business freshman from Thibodaux, is a non-traditional student who attended Relate for his first time last Thursday. He also performed his poem relating to what passion means to him in his life.
“It was my first time, but being here tonight was a great experience for me, ” Garner said. “I plan to become a regular at Relate.”
Relate has been pulling in participants from other schools such as Thaddeaus “Skoodah” Victor, a student from University of Louisiana at Lafayette who performed his own song Thursday. The song was about girls being beautiful the way they are, no matter their size.
“I really liked it,” Victor said. “We kind of have things like this at ULL, but it is not as sophisticated as this was. I plan to come back and bring more people along.”
Clark and Ruiz look to a future of Relate being student-run because they are busy with teaching and outside responsibilities.
“Mr. Clark and I are not going to be here forever, and we would like Relate to continue after we are gone,” Ruiz said. “We are really looking for students to gain ownership of what we started and that it stays here.”
