Music. It’s the one entity that every
human-being has in common. We all listen to some form of it, whether it is
folk, country, show tunes, or rap. We all have an emotional connection with
music. For me, music has helped me connect with my emotions and motivate me
when I am down. For example, I used music when my father died at age 5 and used
it again when I found out that I had cancer five years ago. I continue to use
music to this day to sometimes deal with the sadness of not having a father and
coping with my cancer treatments.

  The cancer treatments can sometimes cause me
to be bedridden and to feel very tired. But there is always something that gets
me out of bed and into my normal routine, and that is music.

  Music is my life. I grew up listening or
singing to country and musicals. Coming to Robert Morris, my passion for music
had a steady crescendo. It’s all because of the Colonial Theatre. It has truly
changed my life. It has given me so many opportunities and led me to a great
support group with the theatre world. However, it doesn’t come without its
challenges.

  Here are a few hints: four shows in the fall
semester, six in the spring, conferences throughout the year in Washington
D.C., San Francisco, and Philadelphia, taking 18 credits, working on and off
campus, the occasional theatre festival, working at Pittsburgh Musical Theater,
and visits to the hospital for cancer treatments. So, at times, it can get
hectic, but theatre people feed on being around each other and supporting one
another.

  Despite these challenges, music has been
there to help me through it all. It’s even led to one of my most memorable
experiences in my college career. I had the opportunity to perform at the
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival two years ago. The Colonial
Theatre performed “Rent” for one of the most amazing audiences I have ever
seen. They cheered throughout the entire show, and after the opening
number the spectators were already on the edge of their seat. My hope is for us
to get the same enthusiasm from the audience this year with our performance of
“Spring Awakening.”

  Now I am in my senior year, and I am hoping
to continue to use music as my inspiration for any hardship I may encounter.
Being that I used to be an applied mathematics major, I plan on getting my
Master’s degree in business from Robert Morris University and hope to use my
skills to open a theater company. I would use this company as a means of
sharing my love of music with other people. I want to provide the opportunities
I have had in theater, to those who may not ever get those same chances. I have
been through so much in my short lifetime, yet I am still here. I am still
performing and singing. If I can do it, so can someone else. I believe, more
than anything, that with the right song, I can accomplish anything.