<p>Hometown attendee posting here. Just some FYIs: Weather looks to be a little less dire than it’s been lately - why does THIS particular winter have to be such an outlier? For those of you with cars, there is underground parking beneath CCM - not the cheapest option, but beats Chicago by several miles. Elevators give direct access to CCM. Plenty of the usual college town eateries would be quicker to walk to (5 - 10 minutes) than driving a car around the one-way streets, but be prepared for steps and hills. The UC campus is very compact, and hilly. The main on-campus food court is very close to CCM (5 minutes) and can be accessed via elevators (slow ones) or several sets of steps and a short open-air bridge or an outdoor walk beside the stadium. I don’t know where they plan to herd the parents - anyone else with experience they can relate?? - but I am not aware of any comfy “lounges” in the building. On-campus Starbucks is in the CCM building, but I believe they don’t open until 10:00 on Saturdays - not sure what the thinking was on that decision.</p>
<p>Break a leg and merde to all who are attending. My S will be in the mix for this one.</p>
<p>There are lots of signs to direct you to the parent lounge and they have donuts, bars etc to eat, coffee, Tea, water. Yes first floor. Or lots of benches in the hallway where I met a wonderful mom from NC. Lots of friendly students to help direct. I liked sitting on the bench because of all the hustle and bustle going on around there. There is a main table in the atrium by main entrance where all students sign in. BAL everyone!</p>
<p>My son is a Junior at CCM and he helped with auditions in December (I’m not sure if he’s helping this weekend or not.) He talked to candidates and their parents. He organized resumes & head-shots, and led folks in and out of the audition room and sat at the table with the faculty. He had no say in the decisions, but he did get to listen in on the discussion and see the process up-close. I asked him for one take-away from the process.</p>
<p>He gave me two: </p>
<p>1.) Sitting at the audition table is hard. Listening to so many high school hopefuls and staying engaged takes ninja-like focus. </p>
<p>2.) From his perspective, he felt that those candidates who came into the room, who knew themselves, and were themselves, stood-out the most. My follow-up was, What about talent? He said that the talent was either there or it wasn’t. There were a lot of talented people walking through the door. It was the ability to be themselves (a term he kept using, but didn’t quite qualify) that sparked the audition.</p>
<p>In conclusion (?): Know yourself. Be yourself. Show yourself. (Remember, Gods not nervous about your audition.)</p>
<p>My advice (like you need it…) You’re not there to beg. Put your best stuff out there and make it hard for them to say “no” to you. That’s all you can do.</p>