Name
Kayla Erickson '07

Major
Vocal Music Education

Hometown
The good ol' Twin Cities (of Minnesota)

Why Northwestern?
The people. I took some Distance Education classes in high school and enjoyed my interaction with professors and staff. I knew a few faculty and staff members through church and friends, so I decided to take a tour and then apply. I was accepted and God gave me a great financial aid package!

Involvements
Women's Chorale, College Choir, Music Office TA and employee, Choral librarian, Student Government, Theatre productions, Opera Workshop, Eagle Scholars Honors program, OpServe employee, Orientation Leader, Chamber Singers

Favorite class
Human Relations with Dr. RB-Banks. It was one of my hardest classes, but I learned so much about myself, about God, and about how to live "real life" with people who are different from me. Dr. Banks taught from her heart, and lived out everything she said. When that class ended, I knew I was not the same person that I was at the beginning of the semester.

Best NWC-sponsored missions/service/travel experience
The College Choir European tour in the summer of 2006. We spent time in Germany, Poland, and Ukraine. Spending time with the people I'm closest to for two weeks in such beautiful places was unbelievable. More than that, we saw God and experienced Him in new ways. We thought we were there to give - but we received SO much.

Best place on campus
The path in the woods behind the Ericksen Center and the library. And the belltowers (I've been in two of them!). And the tent made of logs in the woods behind the tennis courts. Not many people know about that one...

“I’ll never forget…”
When classes were cancelled and the school shut down for two days because of blizzards that buried us in snow!

“To me, NWC means…”
Real life together. We don't get it perfect by any means, but we are a community seeking God and pursuing Him and His design for us together. Every experience I've had here has been a community, "family" experience: standing on stage for the bows of the final performance of the fall musical theatre production, knowing you sweat and cried and dreamed with these people for two months; staying in the homes of Ukrainian believers on choir tour; loving your roommates; and dropping in your professor's office just to say "Hi" and talk about life. These are the experiences that build community and have defined my college experience.

After graduation…
I want to continue to pursue performing in musical theatre productions, get a job as a music teacher in Minnesota or Wisconsin, and make my parents proud!