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Let me start by saying I am very fortunate to serve as a Graduate Ambassador.  It’s afforded me many opportunities to meet new people and contribute to the Columbia College Chicago community. That is why I was incredibly flattered to have been invited to dinner with the president of Columbia College Chicago, Dr. Kwang-Wu Kim, along with the rest of my ambassador peers.

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It was a great evening filled with food, drink, and conversation…not necessarily in that order. The dinner was held at the President’s on-campus home. I gotta say, it’s a really nice place.

Dinner was…well…tasty. I want to avoid describing the meal like this is a food blog, but sufficed to say yours truly was not afraid to go back for seconds.

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The conversation covered a wide range of topics, though they were mostly Columbia related. But President Kim did not shy away from discussing the benefits and challenges of graduate studies. What I got out of the conversation was the importance of accessibility and communication.

If the administration can make itself accessible to the student body then both parties will make a more successful academic environment. When it’s all said and done that lesson can be applied to a production. A director has to be accessible to those around them. We have to be able to meet with a DP, producers and actors. We have to be able to have an open dialogue to share the ideas of what we want to develop and what might be possible pitfalls. Accessibility and communication go hand-in-hand in making a successful project.

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So after the food was eaten and the conversation thinned, we had to face reality. It was a school night, so President Kim had to kick us. But don’t you fret. We ended up at another bar to continue the lessons.