By Taylor Shaw
When Rita Padden, FCRH ’18, started her first semester freshman year at Fordham, she wasn’t sure when she would find her stride. Although Fordham’s campus provides an immediate community for some students, not all feel that sense of belonging by default of the gates, green grass and catchy city slogan.
“Fordham says that that’s what will happen, you’ll already be part of a community because you’re on a campus, but you really do have to put yourself out there, and for me, it didn’t work every time,” Padden reflected. “I let that limit me; I spent a little bit too much time in my room.”
In comparison, three years later, Padden is thriving. Not only has she found her place in the theater community as president of the Fordham Experimental Theater (FET) and in the musical community as the assistant music director of the Hot Notes, but she also found her place in the heat of New Mexico.
She entered Fordham as a pre-med student, but, after taking an introductory anthropology class, she redirected her future entirely. This summer, she decided to put that change of course to the test, by going on an archeological dig, hosted by the University of Nevada Las Vegas, in Mimbres, NM. Instead of studying in a classroom, she applied what she had learned to intense, hands-on work for six weeks, living in tents and using solar-powered showers. She specifically focused on artifacts from the classic Mimbres period.
“I learned that when it’s something that you really love, putting in the amount of work I put in didn’t really feel like work. I didn’t care that I was dirty all the time; I didn’t care that sometimes I had to spend nights later than I expected finishing lab reports, just to wake up the next day at five a.m.—I didn’t care because I loved doing it,” Padden said.
Padden carries this passion for collaborative, thorough and detail-oriented work to all that she does. In her time at Fordham, Padden has been a part of 12 theater productions as either an actor, director or working tech through both FET and the Theatrical Outreach Program (TOP).
Each production required commitment and extreme attention, even when the effort goes unnoticed by the audience.
“It’s the same with Hot Notes performances, spending more time than you think you should on two bars of music just to make sure you’re all breathing at the same time—no one notices that—but it makes for a really great experience,” she said.
Padden attributes this commitment to putting her all into everything she does to a quote she carries with her: “Hold on, one more time with feeling,” a lyric from a song by Regina Spektor, Padden’s favorite musician.
Padden explained that she did not get to where she is without facing any obstacles, and that it took her many attempts to navigate her way to the communities that she’s found her place in. It was not enough to simply try something once and move on, but rather she continued to push herself to aim for what she was most passionate about, and each time put more and more of herself into it. It took her a while to step out of her comfort zone, but she found that only by opening her mind to vulnerable, creative experiences could she feel successful and accepted.
“It’s really overwhelming to feel like you don’t have a place, but you’re not going to feel like you do until you try to find it. Try for something, and if one thing doesn’t work out, keep trying,” Padden encouraged. “If it’s something you’d love to do, keep putting yourself out there and you’ll find your place.”
