Alaina Lieze, a junior music and advertising double major from Swedesboro, NJ (GloucesterCounty) shares this first-person perspective on how joining Rowan Choir helped her rediscover her passion for music, improve her academic performance and feel a sense of belonging on campus.
As a freshman transfer student at Rowan University, I was initially unsure about how to get involved on campus. With so many clubs and activities available, I felt overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start. However, I decided to take a chance and join the music program. Rowan Concert Choir is open to all majors and is a one-credit course that helps to satisfy the Rowan Core educational requirements for artistic literacy. Many students choose to take Concert Choir three times, so that they earn three credits to finish the Rowan Core requirement – and without any textbooks or tests!
Although I was nervous about auditioning for the choir, I was quickly put at ease by the welcoming and supportive members. Through my participation in the Rowan Choirs, I rediscovered my love for making music. I had enjoyed singing in various choirs in the past, but this experience was different. The choir explored various genres of music and performed pieces with social justice themes, such as songs related to The Black Lives Matter Movement and African American spirituals. Singing with this group allowed me to see the world in a new way, and I was grateful to have found a community of people who shared my passion.
Joining the choir also helped me feel a sense of belonging on campus. As a commuter student, it was easy to feel disconnected from the university community. It was also difficult to join a college community a semester late as a transfer student. However, being a part of the Concert Choir gave me a reason to come to campus on weekends and meet new people.
But, the benefits of joining a new ensemble didn’t stop there. As I became more involved in the choir, I noticed improvements in my academic performance. I was more motivated to attend class and complete assignments because I had something to look forward to outside of my coursework.
Looking back on my college experience so far, joining the Rowan Concert Choir was one of the best decisions I ever made. It allowed me to discover my passion, make meaningful connections, and develop important skills that will serve me well in my future career.
If you’re a current or future college student, I encourage you to take a chance and join a club or activity that interests you. It could be photography, dance, politics, or anything in between. College is the perfect time to explore your interests and find your passion, and joining a club is a great way to start.
Today we feature Arianna Granda from Morris County, NJ. She is a rising senior studying Music Education with a vocal concentration and pursuing a CUGS in Jazz Performance. She currently serves as the president of both Rowan’s NAfME (National Association for Music Education) chapter and Profecy A Cappella group, as well as a leader of […]
What made you choose Rowan? What made you choose music? When I first started exploring colleges as a senior in high school, I really wanted to move far away from New Jersey and find my own way. I was set on not going to a state school, but I humored my mother and decided to […]
Kevin: “The Rowan Music Department is pretty small and close-knit, so we always knew of each other. I always thought of Scott as… a little intimidating. He was the choral librarian, the choir section leader, the upperclassman. He was a HUGE part of the music department! I was accepted into Rowan as a saxophone player, […]
After I arrived, I had to go through all these different transportation modes to go from Paris to Le Havre and my phone wasn’t working! I had to navigate the entire thing just by talking to people and from reading signs. I don’t know how I ended up making it to Le Havre. It was raining, too. It was a bit of a shock to just be thrown in and use [only] French right away.
I had a Prof Référente (Referent Teacher) with whom I could communicate through Facebook. She was so helpful. She helped me find my place to stay because the high school that I worked at didn’t have housing available for me. So she asked another high school nearby if I can stay there and it ended up working out. She picked me up from the train station once I arrived. She gave me bed sheets and a week’s worth of groceries. I was lucky to have good support over there.
“La Funiculaire” (little train) Stephanie had to take to get up to her apartment.
Was it scary having to talk in French to French people?
I was honestly really scared when I first arrived because it wasn’t the same as “classroom French.” I’ve never studied abroad before, so I never knew what it was like to actually speak French in France. I went to France once when I was in high school, but I always had my teachers there to help us. This time, I was by myself. I had to use my French, especially when I had to explain things to my students. Sometimes they didn’t understand what I was saying in English, so I would have to translate in French.
You get used to it after a while. There’s a lot of slang I need to learn as well as very technical vocabulary. I had to open a bank account in France and I didn’t know any banking vocabulary, so it was a bit difficult. I also observed the biology lab classes in one of the high schools. Even small things, like DNA, were switched. It was ADN.
Your brain automatically switches to your second language after being immersed in it for a while. It’s also easier to learn different languages when you are able to see the connections between languages. When I was there, I tried to practice my Spanish with the Spanish assistants. It’s a lot easier when you’re talking to someone that’s native to that language. They can tell when I am making a mistake and they don’t feel shy to correct me and give me feedback because they are teachers. It’s what they do.
What other countries were your fellow assistants from?
I met assistants from Spain, Germany, England, Northern Ireland, Los Angeles, Colorado, New York, Kenya, Russia and Jordan.
Stephanie (bottom, right) at Le Mont Saint Michel in Normandy
What was your favorite memory (outside of being a teaching assistant)?
Spending all of my time with the assistants because that’s all we really had. Everything was closed after one week of me being there. We didn’t have museums or restaurants to go to. All we had was each other. I was lucky to live right next to the beach, so I had a lot of beach days. It was only a 20-minute walk to the beach. Having that space to get out, explore new places, and take my beach days were fun.
Meals from the student restaurant
I worked 12 hours a week, 5 days a week, a few hours each weekday. In France, they start school at 8 a.m. and finish at 5:20 p.m. They get two 15-minute breaks as well as an hour and 20 minutes for a lunch break. They can do whatever they want during their break, like walk around town and eat anywhere. A lot of my students would go home and eat lunch. They also take the public bus to school, not a singular school bus.
Dessert from the student restaurant
What was your favorite meal in France?
I ate a lot of vegan food because most of [the assistants] were either vegan or vegetarian. I really liked it because I never knew you could do so much with such little ingredients because the vegan diet is so restricted. They can’t eat any meat or dairy, or even honey. But, you can do so much with spice. We would always have potluck dinners. Also, the food at my high school was so fancy because [the students] are training to be proper chefs. They would practice making fancy French desserts and sophisticated dishes. French school meals are also very balanced and affordable.
School lunch in Le Havre, France
What was the most interesting thing you learned about France?
I guess, how welcoming everyone was! I watched Emily in Paris right before I leftand I had this idea in my head. “I’m going to be all by myself and they’re going to shoo me away because I’m American.” But no, everyone was so welcoming! When you’re walking down the street, everyone says “Hello, how are you?” Even though you’re complete strangers. When I first got back, I wanted to have a conversation with my cashier like in France.
Stephanie plays the ukulele at a beach in Le Havre
What was your favorite souvenir?
My favorite souvenir was a ukulele. I had to get rid of a lot of clothes and a pair of shoes to fit the ukulele! I only came with one suitcase, one carry-on, and one backpack. I ended up leaving a lot of shirts. I traded with other assistants. For example, I gave some of my Rowan shirts. I traded them for a Spanish white sweatshirt from Granada as well as a Spanish jean jacket. I also bought real lavender. It is really cool because it keeps its scent for a really long time. It made my luggage smell amazing!
Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about your time in France?
The overall experience made me think about how it felt like to be a foreigner in another country, which is something that a lot of us have not experienced. It made me really think about how it might have felt for my mom who came from the Philippines to the U.S.
It’s called TAPIF, which stands for Teaching Assistant Program In France and it’s through the French Ministry of Education. TAPIF was recommended to me by my French teacher, Dr. Maria Hernandez, a former Fulbright Program alumna.
What part of France were you mainly based in?
Normandy! It has a mix of everything. It’s in the northwest of France. You can find suburbs, cities, small towns, beaches, cliffs and the countryside. It’s about two hours away from Paris. You could take a bus to Paris from Normandy for as low as eight euros (about $9). When we traveled to the south of France, we took a train ride from Normandy that took about six hours.
Marseilles
My base city is really special. It’s called Le Havre. It is an urban city with a beach and a port. It is located right next to Sainte-Adresse, where Claude Monet created many of his paintings. What happened in Le Havre is that during the World War II bombings, the entire city was destroyed. The city was rebuilt not too long ago. It was rebuilt by Auguste Perret between 1945 and 1964, so Le Havre looks completely different from other typical French cities. The buildings are a little bit newer and more modern. They are boxier and made of concrete.
How many people again were in your program in France?
According to the website, about 1,100 people participated in it and in my city there were 13 assistants.
How close did you live near each other?
We were all within about 20 minutes of each other, whether by bus, tram or walking. Public transportation is really important in France so we all had our own public transportation card which was pretty affordable. I only had to pay 25 euros a month. It made transportation really easy. Most of us were within the city center, so it was very easy to walk to each other’s apartments.
Beach of Le Havre
Could you describe what it was like going from graduation to the pandemic to going to France?
It was such a stressful experience. From the time I graduated to the time I was actually on the plane to France, I didn’t know if I would still be doing the program. We didn’t get our acceptance letters until the end of June, because of Covid delays, and our actual placements until the end of July. And even though we got our acceptance letters, we still weren’t sure if we could leave the country because of the pandemic. The visa center did not open until mid-September. They were not accepting applications to apply for a visa until mid-September, and I had to be in France by mid-October. After I was able to schedule my appointment time for the visa center it took a little bit of time for my visa to process. I got my visa about one week before I had my flight to France.
Even after I got my visa, I had a lot of other things to do before my flight to France. I had to get a background check, my fingerprints scanned, and I had to get my COVID test done 72 hours before boarding. Until I was on the flight, it was stressful, but I made it! Thankfully, it was a lot easier to come back to the US.
Bordeux
What did you do as a teaching assistant?
I taught English and American culture. I taught at two different high schools. One was a hotel and service trade school, where they taught things like culinary, restaurant service. All of the classes I taught for that school were centered around things like food and drinks, holidays and traditions, nutrition, and service dialogues. The other high school I taught at was a technical and professional high school, where they have programs for Biotechnology, Health, and Social Science. I got to talk a lot about things I was passionate about like U.S. healthcare, our education system, civil rights, nutrition, designing experiments, ethics, biotechnology, and general American culture and traditions.
I incorporated a lot of things they were interested in learning about. I would do different kinds of presentations and activities about American culture. I helped them prepare for their oral presentations and would give them feedback.
Did you get to decide that or was there a guideline from TAPIF?
When you’re filling out your application, you get to check off a few boxes about your background. I majored in biology and I did bench and clinical research, so that’s what I included in my application.
I think TAPIF also tries to decide your placement based on your hobbies. For example, I put on my application that I really enjoy cooking so they placed me in a school with a culinary program. For the most part, they put you where they think you’d fit in best and what high school you are able to give the most to.
Marseille from Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde
What was your favorite memory as a teaching assistant?
I really liked getting to know all of my students and seeing their growth from when I first began teaching to the end. I remember when I first met them, they were so shy and scared to speak to me. By the end of the program, they were so excited to speak in class and we were able to have a lot of fun conversations together.
I loved being able to actually talk to them about what they’re interested in and seeing them build their confidence in being able to speak English. I had them pick what topics they’d be interested in learning. I really liked that because they also had a lot to teach me in return, through our discussions. I would always ask them about things like what kind of music, shows, food, stores, and activities they like. It was like an inside scoop to their culture.
Vieille Ville (Bordeaux)
How did Rowan’s French program help prepare you for this experience?
I loved how small Rowan’s French program was. I had a lot more opportunities to practice speaking with the students in my class because there were only five or six students. There’s also more one-on-one help from your professors.
The support I got from the faculty was huge. I wouldn’t have gotten the position if it wasn’t for Dr. Hernandez. She encouraged me to pursue the French minor and apply to the program. In the beginning, I was debating on whether or not I should go to France because I am also applying to medical school. Dr. Hernandez walked me through the pros and cons of going to France in the midst of a pandemic. Eventually, I made my decision to go based on the idea that I’ll never get to experience and learn about France the way I did in those seven months. It truly would’ve been an opportunity of a lifetime.
In the end, I was honestly so thankful that I went this year. Even though everything was closed the entire time I was there, I don’t think I would have built such a strong bond with all the other assistants if everything was open. We would have each been doing our own thing. Being able to experience big cities like Paris with fewer people on the streets was also really cool.
Today we speak to Arianna Granda, a first-year Music Education major with a Vocal Concentration. Arianna is from Rockaway, NJ (Morris County) and lives on campus.
How is your first year at Rowan so far? It’s definitely been a weird transition, especially going into online school. But I think overall Rowan has handled it really well, especially the music department, they’re doing everything they can really to give us the closest thing that they can to performances and they’re still pushing us to our full potential, despite the circumstances. They’ve been very understanding, yet still pushing us to do the best we can.
This past winter, we had a virtual choir concert, so we recorded it in Pfleeger Hall, which is the bigger concert hall, and we were six feet apart with masks. It was recorded professionally and then it was live-streamed about a month later, so it was really cool that despite not being able to have an in-person performance, we still were able to have a product to showcase all our work throughout the semester.
I also was involved in the theatre community. I was in the cabaret so that was really fun because it was similar where they grouped us with who we had the same voice part as and who we saw every day. We did our own individual numbers and put it together, it looks really cool because they had people edit it. It was a similar event, where it was live-streamed so it was really cool that like despite everything we’re still having some sort of sense of normalcy.
What would you tell a future student who is interested in going to Rowan?
I would say that I really like Rowan, and if you’re looking for small class sizes and an intimate relationship with your faculty where you can ask them questions during class and even have a personal relationship with them, to an extent, where you can email them if you have a question, then this is the place for you.
One thing that I found at Rowan that was kind of rare amongst other schools I was looking at is that the faculty really care about all of their students and their personal needs. I shadowed at Rowan my junior year of high school, and then I participated in a summer camp at Rowan, and when I came back for my audition, the faculty I met remembered me. They didn’t just remember my face and name, they remembered what I was like, my personality, and some things we spoke about when I last saw them. The rest of the faculty and everyone else I’ve met have been the same way, with the same demeanor of being really friendly and open and personable to your needs as a student.
Can you tell me about the shadowing opportunity you had, and the summer camp you attended at Rowan?
I shadowed at Rowan in my junior year of high school, and I met other people who wanted to major in music. I met Dr. Christopher Thomas, the head of the voice faculty, and we all discussed our voice parts and other information. When I came here, I saw posters on the wall for the Rowan summer music camps. I participated in the camp, and I didn’t know anybody. I remember I was paired with a random roommate. When I came to the program on the first day, I made so many friends. I knew everyone’s name by the end of the first day. The program was so welcoming.
Many of the people there had been participating in the program for years, and the faculty of the program was mostly alumni. I felt out of place until we started doing all these icebreakers and it amplified that same sense of community that I felt when I came to Rowan and shadowed, seeing all these alumni come back and being so excited to work with these kids at the summer camp. At the camp, in such a short time you get so much accomplished, and you learn so much, and most of the camp is rehearsals, but in those rehearsals, they’re fast-paced but you’re learning so much and you’re learning your parts and I learned about a lot about who I was as a musician individually while being in that intensive environment.
It was really nice to also have that sense of community, which made it a really fun experience, but also one that challenged me and helped me as a musician.
Meet Musical Theatre major Anthony Finke. Anthony, from Wood-Ridge, NJ (Bergen County), is excited to live on campus this fall!
What is something you’re looking forward to next year at Rowan?
I am looking forward to meeting so many new people and getting to perform in the shows at Rowan!!! I’m also looking forward to getting to work with professionals in the field that I want to go into as a full-time job.
What is one activity, club, sport, or hobby that you did in high school that you’d like to continue at Rowan?
One activity that I did in high school that I’d love to continue in college is definitely the theater department but also [one of the ] choirs.
How did you choose your major?
I chose musical theater because I’ve been doing theater since the fifth grade and it is something I want to do when I get older.
How did you get to know campus?
I knew about the campus because I took an on-campus tour which was so cool to take a look at where I’m going to be living for the next four years!
What music do you like?
I like pop music and a lot of Broadway albums.
Night owl or morning person?
I am definitely a night owl.
Why Rowan?
I chose Rowan because I really like the school and the campus. The theater program is absolutely amazing, and the staff and students are incredibly talented and so easy to work with/talk to!
Meet Rachel Bonhomme, a future Math and STEM Education major from Brick, NJ (Ocean County). She is excited to be an on-campus resident and part of the Rowan community. She tells us more about why she chose Rowan University!
What is one activity, club, sport or hobby that you did in high school that you’d like to continue with at Rowan?
“One activity I’ve always done in the past is choir! It’s always been a part of my life and I’d love to join at least one of Rowan’s choirs.”
How or why did you choose your major?
“I’ve always wanted to teach because my mom is a teacher and I’ve been impacted positively by so many teachers, so I thought it was a good choice! I learned about the 4+1 Math and STEM Education pathway, and I thought it was an amazing opportunity to get what I need.”
Why did you choose a university close to home?
“Choosing a university close to home has always been one of my top priorities, and Rowan is a perfect distance away from home! It’s close enough that if anything happens, I’m not a long distance from home, but it’s far enough that I get the freedom I need. “
Why Rowan?
“The moment I stepped onto Rowan’s campus, I knew that I wanted to go here. The environment was exactly what I was looking for, and every interaction I’ve had with staff has been a great one! There are amazing programs and opportunities, and it’s just a great fit for me.”
