“Leadership is about treating people like people, not as a means to an end”
Music drew Nancy Hawthorne to Florida State—”the diverse and highly acclaimed College of Music.” And music “from all around the world” sustains her.
She began her college career living in Cawthon Hall, the Music Living-Learning Center. “I loved spending time with musician friends, and the colloquiums helped me explore areas I wanted to study in music.” She continued with on-campus ensembles—Women’s Glee Club, Gospel Choir, Jazz Combo, and Vocal Combo. Last year, she says, “It was incredible to sing songs from the Andean mountains in Aconcagua.” This semester, she’s in the African Music and Dance Ensemble.
Nancy combines her love of music and her religious faith to serve others. In 2003, she and other members of the Women’s Glee Club were study buddies for students at Raa Middle School. That summer and the next, she served as a counselor on the Leadership Team at the Willis United Methodist Youth Camp with 90 other college students from around the country. They worked with 4th through12th graders, “helping them understand their value and purpose.”
Since 2004 she has helped lead the worship music and service activities at Florida State’s Wesley Foundation, which provides a hospitable and listening environment for students. She says, “I love living in community with other students who challenge me to grow, yet who like me as I am.” She passes this feeling of acceptance along to students under her tutelage. She’s been a youth counselor since 2003 at the St. Paul United Methodist Church in Tallahassee.
Through FSU’s LeaderShape Institute, she gained a valuable lesson about leadership. “It’s about treating people like people, not as a means to an end. There is so much value in the gifts of those around us.”
An Honors in the Major student, with a grade point average of 3.9 and on the Dean’s List since 2003, Nancy is working on a Medical Ethnomusicology pilot study of low frequency vocal toning and its effects on health and healing.
Right now she is considering her options after graduation. Perhaps she’ll participate in the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program. Perhaps she’ll pursue a graduate degree in Cognitive Ethnomusicology, with a focus on music and healing, which she will use in her future missionary work.