Please give a current update on yourself (college/graduation year, major, grad school, work/career, family, other interests, service or hobbies).
I am currently living in Nashville, Tennessee and playing keys full-time for an artist named Stephen Sanchez! We did a full U.S. tour this past spring and are heading out for another this fall. This year, we’ve had the opportunity to play on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and Today. We’ve played shows in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Canada, and the United Kingdom this past summer, as well as a handful of festivals. I am also a current senior at Belmont University and will be finishing my education in the spring of 2024 with a degree in Audio Engineering Technology!
In what ways did your Geneva education/training prepare you for the work you are doing now?
Geneva’s education prepared me for the career that I am pursuing right now in a multitude of ways. I think the most significant would be my rhetorical and social skills. I attended Geneva from kinder to senior year, and the core rhetorical skills that Geneva instilled in me gave me a strong foundation for the way that I interact with people and my ability to speak publicly as well.
Please describe the most significant value you learned from Geneva.
The most significant value I learned from Geneva was diligence. Year after year, Geneva challenged me with things that consistently grew my work ethic and pushed me to work harder. From memorizing passages of Scripture to formulating and presenting my senior thesis, I truly did learn the benefits of hard work and excellence.
How would you encourage a Geneva Rhetoric School student to make the most of their Geneva years?
I would encourage a Geneva Rhetoric School student to simply enjoy it all. My time in Rhetoric School is time that I truly miss. I didn’t quite recognize how amazing the faculty and community at Geneva was until I had lived life outside of it. But once I graduated and moved on, the beauty of it all became so clear to me. So I’d just like to encourage students to notice that beauty around them and enjoy it while they’re a part of it because high school doesn’t last forever!
Describe Geneva in one word. Explain.
Foundation! I have always seen and still see Geneva as an important foundation for me, especially spiritually and emotionally.
Please share one or two of your Geneva extracurricular activities and then contrast that with one or two of your current non-work activities.
I played tennis throughout high school and would also DJ parties on the weekends! I guess I still do both of those things. Outside of work right now, I enjoy making songs with friends, video editing, going to shows, growing/taking care of my houseplants, cooking and going on walks!
What are your future career goals and how do you feel prepared for them?
My future career goals are to continue touring with artists, to develop a distinct sound as a producer, to grow my own artist project and to pursue acting eventually!
How are you impacted by your work now? What is something you have learned/are learning about yourself and God’s world?
My work impacts me by revealing the beauty in God’s creation and the freedom we have to express ourselves through art. Traveling the world and having the opportunity to play music for people continues to reveal to me how beautiful our world is, and I’ve really started to realize how clear the goodness of the Lord is in everything around me. I am excited to continue learning every day and use my circumstances to reflect Him!
