שמע משותף

You stand in the front row as the minutes tick down. Around you, faculty members file into the reserved section—Professor Kenneth Zhao with a tablet he keeps glancing at, a silver-haired woman in chef's whites consulting with Dean Walsh, others you don't recognize. The general viewing area swells to perhaps five hundred students now, their conversations creating a low buzz of anticipation. At station seven, directly in front of you, stands a competitor whose nameplate reads 'ISABELLE DUMONT.' S