By JEREMY DU RIVAGE

Have you ever wanted to present on a niche topic? Well then you’re in luck dear Beloiter, the Sh*tposium hosted by ABC (At Beloit College) might be right up your alley. Officially labeled the Sh*tposium in reference to the popular concept of sh*tposting online; the idea is a post that is intended to confuse, provoke, entertain or otherwise draw an unproductive reaction from it’s audience. Unofficially labeled the Sillyposium by the school and its administration, the Sh*tposium took place the day after the actual Student Symposium; an event where students present on an educational topic relating to their professional or academic pursuits. The event was housed in the Richardson auditorium of the Morse-Ingersoll Hall. The event had everything a Belot student would want, free food; pizza from Papa John’s and education on interesting and under appreciated topics. 

There were quite a few a presenters at the Sh*tposium and unfortunate as it is, I won’t be able to get to all of them, but I will summarize the ones I personally felt stood out most. Keep in mind these are my personal favorites and if and when this event is held again you should really go and see it for yourself, maybe even go present something. Hopefully this will give those interested in next year’s Sh*tposium an example of the creative freedom they’ll have. 

The first presentation that really caught my attention was Mari Moyar’s summary of the entire story of the manga/anime “One Piece” so far and being that the manga has 1146 chapters and 1142 episodes I’m very grateful and impressed they were able to summarize it all in the course of five minutes. After learning that I’ll probably never actually finish that series I got to hear from Matthew Muller who presented on the Mystery of Bob Ross. The presentation itself raised more questions about Bob Ross’s life and identity than answers but I believe that some mysteries will never be revealed in our lifetime and perhaps we aren’t ready to learn who or what Bob Ross really is or where he comes from. 

Next up was Sam Feldman’s presentation on Basic Fighter Tactics, where I was able to learn about exactly how to win a dogfight in the sky if I’m ever in the cockpit of a fighter jet. With this knowledge secured I got to learn from campus’s own Willie Funk about a dying profession, the career Farter, which yes is, or rather was, a real job that people could aspire to. I also enjoyed a topic that is truly a Beloit original, Marcus Studinski’s presentation on Proper Bell Run Etiquette. 

These are just a few of the many presentations I got to see on Friday and I feel like the Sh*tposium is definitely worth a visit if you’re curious about the special interests of your peers on campus. I recommend everyone reading to attend the next one as there’s nothing more Beloit than learning how educated your fellow student is on a topic you didn’t even know existed.

_{Featured image: Jeremy Du Rivage’27}