Student Profile: Kerry Flanigan ’09

Flannigan

""It's cool to see how people apply their different majors and how, by talking to them, it makes me an overall stronger musician."

Music education: Rensselaer, N.Y.

Why Bucknell?

“It came down to between here and Ithaca and it beat out Ithaca. I knew that when I went out into the real world I wanted to have a degree that was reputable both musically and academically. I wanted to be regarded as someone who was musically gifted, but also intelligent. And when I came here, I thought Bucknell was aesthetically pleasing, which was not the case for a lot of schools I visited.

“At a music conservatory, everyone is music all the time. Here, I’m surrounded by people who are not just music majors. I can have a discussion about politics with my friend, the political science major, or psychology, and then work that back and apply it. It’s cool to see how people apply their different majors and how, by talking to them, it makes me an overall stronger musician.”

My Major

“It’s bachelor of music in education, but I have a focus in conducting. I’ll be certified K-12 when I finish here. But my main goal is to be a professional choral conductor, and the best venue I see for that is to become a professor.

“This semester, I student teach in Mifflinburg. I drive there every morning at 7:30 and I teach music appreciation classes and vocal labs and work with the choir. I audit Chapel Choir at Bucknell, but I really can’t take any other classes because I’m not on campus.”

My Activities

“I’m in Bucknell Buddies, Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and Order of Omega. I’ve accompanied with the choir on piano, and did Broadway Beats my freshman year.

“I was a Junior Fellow in the Arts Residential College. The support system of the Arts Res College helped me realize that it was okay to get into all the arts here. Between my first and sophomore years was when I was most involved, I did everything from Chapel Choir, Concert Chorale, the Catholic Campus Ministry Choir, Opera Company, Beyond Unison, a cappella group, to private voice, organ and piano lessons.

“Every other year the Chapel Choir goes on tour. My first year, we went to Poland and the Czech Republic. This past year we went to Argentina and Uruguay. For this trip, I helped with the planning and then when we got down there I conducted three of the four concerts. I got to conduct in South America, which is pretty cool.”