COVID-19 forces Piemont Symposium students online but, with a good website, this is no problem. 

Piedmont College Technical and Design Theatre Arts double major Taylor Pope designs an extraordinary website exploiting her work and talent. 

“Building my own website has benefited me in that I got to use it as my professional portfolio”

Graduating in May, Pope has been searching and preparing for the job force after college. “I gave the link to my website to companies I interviewed with at the Southeastern Theatre Conference,” she said. 

Taylor Pope presented her session, “Professional website design: How it works” at the 2020 virtual Piedmont Symposium. During her presentation, Pope explained how she constructed her own website highlighting her experience in technical and design theatre over the past four years. Pope started the website after enrolling in Bill Gabelhausen’s audition techniques class. The curriculum includes preparing for professional work including, mock auditions, mock interviews, and website design. 

Each project Pope has been in is displayed on her website with details. For example, Pope showcases her work from a number of Piedmont productions.

“If you click on one it then takes you to the page that is for that show and shows you pictures and the work I did for that show.”

Although Pope’s website is built and ready for employers to navigate, there’s still more work to be done. The project took Pope an entire semester to complete and will continually need minimal work. As each project or job Pope embarks on, she must continue to update her website. “My website does not require much management. I really only need to update it as I add on more experience.” 

Pope wishes to continue in the Theatre Arts and Technical Theatre field after graduation. Having an easily accessible website has already helped Pope in the job force. Not only was making the website an assignment for the class but also gave Pope the chance to look back at all her work and accomplishments.

“I was very proud of Taylor’s website. She worked very hard and it showed.” A fellow classmate of Taylor said.