My grandmother's experience when immigrating to America made it nearly impossible for me to learn of my heritage until after she passed because of the discrimination she faced. My Nonna came to America when she was twelve, after the sudden passing of her father in the Italian suburbs. She had to learn English from scratch while attending schools that did not cater to her language barrier. As a result, she never wanted to teach my father Italian out of fear he'd be outcasted. When we moved nearly seven hundred miles away, that's when she decided over the summers she would try to teach me Italian. We started with the basics: the alphabet and numbers. After the three weeks we'd visit, I'd finally understand only to lose it months later after not practicing. It was a never ending cycle for five years until I finally attempted to learn on duo lingo to no avail. My Nonna broke her foot a few months later and eventually went from assisted living in her home to moving to a nursing home. My Grandpa, he refused to be called Nono because he didn't want his grandkids saying "no" to him, was there every day for her from when they opened to when they closed. The medications she was on caused her to have early forms of dementia and for two more years we saw her slowly drift away. This woman was a three-time breast cancer survivor and found out her arthritis medication was causing many of her memory issues. As soon as she got off of them, her hair grew thick and curly and she remembered me again when I saw her in December of 2019. Then COVID came, spread all through the nursing home, and she passed April 17th, 2020. This was the first immediate family death I had ever experienced. I didn't know what to do with myself and slowly gave up on everything. My band director would check on me often since he knew about everything going on. It took me about a year to be able to talk about it as I entered my junior year of high school. I was asked to be the pit conductor for our musical pit orchestra: Heathers. I loved it and gained a greater appreciation for musicals. I was lucky enough to go to a Performing Arts High school so I'd have that opportunity. I attended this school as a music student and for our senior projects, we have a capstone where we create a product to show all the work we've put in for our four years. I decided to write a musical: Maria. A love note to my grandmother, influenced by her experience as an Italian immigrant coming to America and all of the hardships she faced. It's not completely accurate as I used a lot of creative liberties, but it's based in the 40s and 50s era of music and a lot of fun: love stories, betrayal, gang alliance, and family themes. I used the opener "Maria" for many of my music auditions and got into great schools and received scholarships because of it. Since attending Western Carolina, I have had the opportunity to sing in Italian and have been learning the language more and more to understand composers and performers of the time. I have never felt closer to my grandmother than when I sing. I hope to complete my degree at Western with a fully-produced album for Maria as my senior capstone at the colligate level and perform the musical nationwide to help others connect with their Italian American heritage.

Going to a performing arts school I’ve had the pleasure of learning more about myself and my passions including the development of my skills as a conductor. Music has always been a part of my life from the womb till now. I have explored my interests in the realm of singing and musical instruments. That basis gave me the knowledge to work with other musicians and lead them. In my junior year, I was a section leader for our marching band on an instrument I had never played before. One day at practice our choral teacher came up to me and asked me to conduct our musical theater pit orchestra. As both an experienced vocalist and instrumentalist, I was perfect for the role. That year we were doing Heathers: Teen Edition. It was a monster of a score with our twenty-person pit. The best of our musicians were equally upper and lower-classmen and I was in charge of them. Months of work were poured into the production and in the end, we were nominated for every category in the Blumeys and won three of them, including Best Student Orchestra. It was the most thrilling experience I’ve ever had. The Blumeys are the state-wide competition for musical theater in North Carolina. I also had the pleasure of being the Drum Major for our marching band this past season and conductor once again for our pit orchestra for Jesus Christ Superstar. I won awards from competitions for my conducting and am waiting to hear back for nominations from the Blumeys once again. But it’s not about winning. It’s about creating an environment where everyone can collaborate and grow together. My favorite part of it all is the process. Sure, show weeks are fun and nailing performances can put you on another plane of existence, but there’s nothing more rewarding than grinding for months, slowly getting things under your fingers, and finishing a rehearsal a hundred times better than when you started. I plan to contribute back to my community by going to school for music business and sound engineering to create an environment where people can nurture their love of music. I’ve dreamed of making a music cafe. It’s a mix of a music store, venue, bakery and practice room rental space. Not many musicians can practice how they would like to. As a trumpet player myself, I know how much people can complain about things being too loud. The discouraging comments can subconsciously cause someone to not want to practice or better themselves. The music cafe I am planning to build would be in a city where most of the kids and adults have apartments. I can imagine that people in apartment complexes do not want to hear someone playing all day. Some technologies have tried to aid in this but it’s not the same. The practice rooms would be a perfect solution and would have the latest technology to transform the room into any room or concert hall. It is important to come to these issues with compassion and a safe space in mind. The bakery would make sure that they’re fed and the venue would give students a place to show off and work on projects with each other. Music is a healthy outlet for many people and it mustn’t be erased. My café would enable more musicians to explore and nurture their love of music in free space to create, advance their craft and collaborate with others.