Since
I was a child, I was always told that, one day, I would go to college. My
parents valued education very much (probably because they are both teachers)
and always wanted me to pursue my education. I suppose I was always expected to
go to college. I never really had another option (other than getting a job and
paying rent to live in their house/ my own apartment). College was always just
a known in my life. When people would ask, “Are you going to college?” I would
respond with, “Of course, aren’t you.” I have always assumed that everyone
would want to further their education as much as they could (slightly naïve, I
know, but I like to consider myself an optimist).
Ever
since I was a little girl, I always knew that I wanted to teach. I remember
knowing specifically in first grade, when we had “career day” and everyone
dressed up as their future career, I dressed up as a teacher. At that point
though, I hadn’t discovered music, so I was intent on being a math teacher.
After that day, I would set up all my stuffed animals like a class (sometimes I
would even make my little sister Caroline come sit in class) and I would teach
them math. When I got into middle school, however, things changed. One day, my
chorus teacher pulled me aside and asked, “Have you ever considering majoring
in music?” Of course as a thirteen-year-old, I could not imagine all the
opportunities that music was going to open up to me in the future. Throughout middle
school, my ideas about teaching shifted from math to music. By the time I got
to high school, I knew I was going to sing and play music for the rest of my
life. I could tell that music was my “thing” and I needed to stick with it. I
was told by several people however, that I needed to start taking piano
lessons. My high school chorus teacher told me to look into the Pre-College
program here at Converse. I started taking piano lessons from Mrs. Erica Pauly
and absolutely loved them. After I started taking lessons, I really started to
look into Converse as a school choice. The story of how I picked Converse,
however, is a little different.
When
I first decided to become a music major, I set my heart on going to Furman
University. I’m not quite sure why, but I was determined to get there. During my senior year, I did everything
Furman; I went to auditions and preview days. I even shadowed the marching band
during a football game. As fun as all of that was, I never really felt like I
fit in. The music department was great, but I was unimpressed with the rest of
the faculty. Most of the people there, I thought, were trying to make Furman
into an Ivy League school. I didn’t want to go to an Ivy League school (there’s
a reason I didn’t apply to Harvard), so I was very confused. My parents would
always ask me why I wasn’t excited about college and I never really had an
answer. I came to an audition and was quite impressed with the music faculty.
Everyone was nice and they actually seemed excited to have me there. I remember
specifically a few people saying, “Awesome! We really need horns.” It made me
feel very wanted and it was very encouraging. I lost my voice the day of my
audition and everyone was completely understanding about it. They went out of
their way to make sure I was scheduled for another audition day. I was so
impressed and grateful. After my first audition, I went to an Accepted Student
Day. Walking to the Economics of Harry Potter class that we had chosen to take,
my mom looked at me and said, “You know, this is the first time you’ve really
looked happy during the whole process of choosing a college.” After she said
that, I realized that she was right. At Converse, I felt very at home and
comfortable. At that moment, I knew that Converse was the school for me.
And finally, if
I was a Muppet, I would be Rowlf the Dog. He is described as quiet, calm, and easy
going. He is a big fan of classical music and musicals. I just read the
description of Rowlf and was like, “Yep, that’s totally me!”
