Do you have a passion for music? There are two different a capella singing groups on campus: Understaffed and Golden Knotes. On this episode of the podcast, I interviewed Kat Bartosik. Bartosik is one of the founders of Understaffed, and the current president of Golden Knotes.
Golden Knotes:
“Golden Knotes performs at Convocation, Open House, the Pep Rally, Relay for Life, and Graduation,” Bartosik says. Golden Knotes also holds an end-of-semester concert before finals week each semester. When asked about her favorite thing about each group, Bartosik replied, “I think it would just be the community aspect. I think everyone feels welcome there.”
Bartosik enjoys the relaxed atmosphere, where they can have fun and forget about the pressures of homework and projects for a while. Bartosik goes on to describe her favorite memory which is her first paper plate ceremony. “So paper plates are made up by E-board and given out to members at the end of each semester.” She explains that her first paper plate was about an inside joke that she had between herself and a member of the E-board. She really enjoys the friendly, and relaxed ambiance of the group.
Understaffed:
As for Understaffed, “We perform at the ICCAs, which is the National Competition of Collegiate A Capella,” said Bartosik. Since Understaffed is a newer group they are still acclimating but hope to start performing at more events on campus in the future. Bartosik loves this group because “it’s a little bit more intense musically, like we push ourselves more to have the best quality that we can, and I just love that aspect of the group.”
Bartosik again goes on to describe her favorite memory in regards to Understaffed. “For Understaffed my favorite memory is definitely from ICCA, our competition. It feels so good to have our hard work pay off, and our score went up a lot this year from the year before. And it just feels so good to improve and we spend the whole weekend together so everyone is just so close.”
When people think about clubs on an engineering campus, most people wouldn’t guess that there are singing or a capella groups. We are so fortunate to have these outlets on our campus. However, they do come with their own set of challenges.
“The hardest part is recruiting. It is so hard to recruit people sometimes,” replied Bartosik when asked about the biggest obstacles. She goes on to talk about the challenges involved with balancing work and leisure.
If you would like to know more about either group, feel free to reach out and email them at goldenknotes@clarkson.edu and understaffed@clarkson.edu.