Accomplishing a lifelong dream is a feeling unlike any other.  There are a myriad of dreams I have seen accomplished having just graduated from high school and entered college, but there is a particularly dear one that I accomplish a little more and more each Monday and Wednesday evening. That is my childhood dream of becoming a member of an a cappella group.

This dream came to fruition when I was in the third grade, the year I saw my cousin Colin perform with the Deltones at the University of Delaware. At that point in my life, I was struggling to cope with a chronic illness that held me back from playing sports or playing instruments. Two years prior I had been diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that has come to affect each of my joints on a daily basis. My disease was a real hindrance, holding me back from the activities of my friends and leaving me struggling to cope with the boundaries of my condition. I was on the hunt therefore for an activity that would be fun, that wouldn’t hurt, that I could love. I found that activity at my cousin’s concert.

Driving to Delaware was a big deal for my family. We had always supported my cousin’s musical pursuits throughout high school but this was our first opportunity to do so during his college career. Little did I know that our journey to his college would result in the birth of my first attainable lifelong dream. Up until that point my goals were to open the first library on the moon and to meet Junie B. Jones. Figuring out that I wanted to join an a cappella group was a dream that my joints couldn’t destroy and one that felt possible.

The moment I heard the Deltones sing their first song, Somebody to Love by Queen, I knew that a cappella was my future so I set about my life singing from the moment I woke up in the morning until sleep took me at night. Singing became a lifestyle choice rather than a hobby and it was something that I was fiercely passionate about. I became successful in my town in different choirs and ensembles, especially in musical theater programs.

When senior year rolled around and I was starting to apply to colleges, my singular criterion for a school was that it had an a cappella group that I could audition for.  I didn’t find out about Stockton’s groups until after I was accepted and applying to the Honors Program here. Then, when I investigated the school’s extra curricular events and I found it, I knew that Stockton was a place that I could accomplish my dream. So I auditioned in the fall and was so thankful to be accepted into the male/female ensemble called the Stocktones.

I found my home at Stockton when I found the Stocktones, the community that has been borne from our music is one that I wouldn’t trade for the world. As individuals we are goofs who love to sing songs. As a whole we become an ensemble that makes music. Together we accomplish something amazing that we couldn’t do independently of one another. Every time we rehearse, the little girl inside of me that yearned for the opportunity to sing with an a cappella group feels great success. Tomorrow is the Stockappella concert for this Fall 2013 semester, it’s a sold out show. I know that the concert tomorrow will once again yield an overwhelming feeling of success, both personally and for my group.  I write this blog post as I sit waiting to take the stage during the dress rehearsal. Today more than ever I feel as though I have become the person that I wanted to be as a child. There is no appropriate way to describe that success, its still too surreal to me. All I can say is that I am thrilled to be in the position that I’m in and to have the opportunity to perform with the Stocktones is something that I wouldn’t trade for the world.