2012-13 Edition
Dear Friends,
2012 is now behind us and I want to thank you for a wonderful year. We are looking forward to a truly historic 2013 which will include - among many highlights - a return to our nation's capital, an international performance tour with three of our ensembles and the groundbreaking of our new home!
In 2012, Purdue Musical Organizations performed for more than 101,000 people during 117 shows in 32 cities across 5 states. We started the year with a performance by the Glee Club in Super Bowl Village. In March, the Purduettes performed throughout southwest Florida and the Glee Club performed in Washington, D.C. In the fall, we collaborated with the Indianapolis Men's Chorus, the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra and were again featured on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”
The 79th annual Purdue Christmas Show was a tremendous success with our largest turnout in five years. We are energized by the growth of our audience and we are already planning for this year's 80th anniversary on December 7 and 8.
Our 2013 season is already in full swing. The Glee Club has accepted an invitation from the Indiana Society of Washington, D.C. to perform at the Indiana Inaugural Ball the evening before the Presidential Inauguration, and the students will attend the inaugural ceremony before we return to campus. PMO last performed as a part of the inauguration festivities in 2005.
This spring, Glee Club will return to southwest Florida during spring break and will collaborate with the Indianapolis Children's Choir for two joint concerts at the end March. In April, the Purduettes will join the Glee Club for two performances at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel. And in May, Glee Club, Purduettes and Purdue Bells will embark on a two-week performance tour of Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France. We are honored to have more than 40 PMO Club supporters traveling with us.
The most exciting news of all is we are nearing the finish line of the design phase of our new building, Bailey Hall. The university expects construction to begin this summer. The facility should take a little more than a year to complete and we expect to move in during the fall of 2014. We are forever grateful to the many donors who are helping to make this dream come true.
The students of PMO continue to make us proud. Each ensemble's average GPA for the fall semester was a 3.07 or higher, the highest grades we've recorded since renewing our focus on academic success four years ago as a part of our strategic plan.
On behalf of our students and staff, thank you for staying connected with us and for your continued support. We couldn’t do what we do without friends like you. We wish you a wonderful new year and we hope to see you along the way. Hail Purdue!
William E. Griffel Director, Purdue Musical Organizations A LOOK INSIDE...
Year in Review 2 Alumni News 5 Student Spotlight 6 What’s New? 7 JOIN OUR E-MAIL LIST Upcoming Events 8
For occasional e-mail updates from PMO, join our e-mail list where you can set your preferences for the information you would like to receive from us. Visit our homepage at www.purdue.edu/pmo to get started! ↓ Membership in University Choir has grown to more than 80 student performers since it was reintroduced as an ensemble four years ago.
↑ Membership in All Campus & ↑ Purdue Bands originated the Community Chorale has grown to “Block P” and now the Glee Club more than 80 members and many has added it to their rendition perform in the Christmas Show. of “Strike Up the Band.”
↓ Glee Clubber Daniel Pinkis receives his first official Glee Club haircut! Thank you to our friends at Beaux Cheveux Styling Salon.
↑ Dr. Melissa Exum, our Vice President for Student Affairs, ↑ The Purdue Bells enjoy a meal enjoys a personal serenade from together during their annual camp. PMO during Purdue Day at the Each member was tied to another to Indiana State Fair. PMO took the teach everyone to work together! stage throughout the day.
↓ The Glee Club debuted their five minute version of “The Wizard of Oz” during their annual “First Nighter” concert.
↑ Representing a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, ↑ Glee Club senior Michael Blakley Heart & Soul students celebrate presents his white carnation to President Co rdova after a show. inspirational and gospel styles.
2 Yours in Song · 2012-13 Yours in Song · 2012-13 3
↓ After the final performance, ↓ Senior Kirsten Hall performs Onyx Uzomah, Kenny Tan and “Wizards in Winter” with the Vanessa Saqib-Vicente smile for Purdue Bells during the 78th the camera before hanging up Purdue Christmas Show in 2011. their costumes and preparing for their final exams!
↑ Santa arrives for the big finale! There were 2,812 students who attended our 7th annual school matinee and 15,998 patrons who attended our four performances throughout the weekend.
↓ During their spring break performance tour, Glee Club performed for Indiana Senator ↓ The Purduettes visited with Richard Lugar in his office in many friends and supporters of the Dirksen Senate Building in PMO during their spring break the Committee on Foreign performance tour of Florida, Relations room. Senator Lugar including Gail and Bill Cordier shook hands with each student at a luncheon for the Purdue following the performance. Club of Southwest Florida.
↑ Glee Club performed throughout the Washington, D.C. area and accepted an invitation to perform a private show on the grounds of the Pentagon.
↓ Junior Allie Conrad solos ↓ Glee Club at the 55th during the student-produced Anniversary of Grand Prix. rock concert PHENOMENA.
↑ Thank you to all our friends and PMO Club donors who help make our tours possible! ↓ The PMO Staff organized “The Amazing Race” for the student retreat. Photos can be found in the Amazing Race album on our Facebook page.
↑ The 2012-13 Purdue Bells ↑ Glee Club rehearses with kicked off the new year with a Garrison Keillor before bang and are looking forward performing as a part of “A to their first international tour. Prairie Home Companion.”
↓ Congratulations to PMO supporter Linda Rohrman, named Philanthropist of the Year by the Indiana Association of Fundraising Professionals!
↑ Thank you to all the alumni who participated in the Glee ↑ Boilermaker and Olympic Gold Club Alumni Tailgate during Medalist David Boudia stopped by Homecoming. We hope you will Purdue Bells rehearsal to wish them join us again September 28 good luck in the Christmas Show! during Homecoming 2013!
↓ Mrs. Claus in the spotlight!
↑ We had the largest turnout in five ↑ University Choir entertained during years at the 79th Purdue Christmas our 8th annual school matinee, Show with 17,680 attendees. We’re attended by 3,517 students. already hard at work on the 80th anniversary which will be presented For hundreds more photos, visit on December 7-8, 2013. “Center Stage” on our website.
4 Yours in Song · 2012-13 Yours in Song · 2012-13 5 ALUMNI FEATURE Jack Calhoun, Purdue Varsity Glee Club alumnus, is president of Banana Republic, a division of Gap Inc. In this capacity, he oversees all aspects of running a $2.5 billion global business including all brand, product and employee experiences for more than 600 stores and 17,000 employees. He led the brand partnership with the award-winning “Mad Men” TV series and has spearheaded fashion and art-related partnerships with Vanity Fair, GQ and Vogue. He received a B.S. from Purdue University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. While at Purdue, Calhoun sang with the Purdue Varsity Glee Club and served as a Purdusir. Last fall, Jack returned to campus as a part of Purdue’s Old Masters program where he stopped by a rehearsal and enjoyed dinner with the Purdusirs. PMO recently caught up with Jack regarding his experience at Purdue.
Why did you decide to come to Purdue to study? I came to Purdue because it was and is a great university. I’m not sure I fully appreciated how great Purdue is until many years later. Maybe because I grew up in Lafayette and it was in my own backyard. I hate to say it here, but I did have a detour and went to Indiana University for one year where I studied voice at the music school and was a member of the Singing Hoosiers. While IU has one of the best music schools in the country, I decided that pursuing a career in music was not for me and transferred to Purdue (or as many say – I saw the light). Purdue was absolutely the right choice for me. I was able to take advantage of so many leadership opportunities all across the campus. I was certainly able to keep involved in music with PMO. I was also able to fit in attending some classes and got a first rate education.
How did your time at Purdue and with PMO prepare you for your career? Purdue helped me become very good at problem solving, and I do this in my job everyday. However, even more important are the skills I learned in the Glee Club for how to be a great ambassador for an organization. I constantly represent Banana Republic all over the world. In the Glee Club we had unlimited opportunities to represent PMO, Purdue and sometimes the State of Indiana. I learned this is a serious responsibility: how you show up at all times matters. From day one at Glee Club camp we were taught the importance of appearance, manners and how to represent the organization. It was a bit of a boot camp, and in my four years I had many opportunities to apply these skills. I may not have known it at the time, but it sure prepared me well for the many things to come in my career. I am so glad to see PMO is still thriving and that dedication, commitment to excellence and the discipline is still strong and alive at PMO.
ALUMNI UPDATES David Noble, PVGC ‘76 · David and James Frazer, PVGC ‘81 · Jim and Bridget (Williams) Golden, Univer- his wife Mary Anne are celebrating his wife Kathy live in Glen Ellyn, sity Choir ‘98 · Bridget and her IL. Daughters Erin and Emily live Gene Bahls, PVGC ‘51 · Gene their 35th anniversary this sum- husband Thom reside in Hender- in Chicago and son Stephen lives moved to McDonough, GA last mer. Many PMO members shared sonville, TN and are the proud in Raleigh, NC. Jim is currently December to be with family. He that day with them. Their 3 daugh- parents of 3 boys (age 6 and 3- working with Robert Bosch LLC as plans to be in the Midwest Sep- ters are all healthy, employed and year old twins). Bridget serves as Director of Marketing & Product tember through November, keep- living on their own! the Alumni Engagement Officer for Management within the automo- ing his season football tickets. Mortar Board National College Bill Caldwell, PVGC and University tive diagnostics business unit. Senior Honor Society. Bob Madison, PVGC ‘57 · Bob con- Choir ‘77 · Bill and his wife Connie Elaine (Holstine) McVay, Choral tinues his consulting practice reside on Lake Keowee in Seneca, Kelly Myers, University Choir ‘02 Club ‘85 · Elaine is now living in (Madison & Associates) focusing SC. Bill retired after 34 years with · Kelly and her husband Adam Terre Haute, IN and works at Clab- on career transition, management Monsanto/MEMC. They’ve remod- were married January 1, 2011 and ber Girl Corporation as their Mar- coaching and team effectiveness eled their house and have opened live in Lafayette, IN. Kelly received keting Manager. She's still singing, enhancement. He is a Sr. Career three guest suites to those who her Masters in School Counseling and this spring hit the stage as Coach for the firm CareerCurve. would like to enjoy the lake and from Butler University in 2010. part of Terre Haute's Community Bob lives in Hudson, OH. the beauty of the area nearby. Theater in "Meet Me in St. Louis." Jeff McGee, PVGC ‘05 · Jeff and his Charles Carothers, PVGC ‘69 · Kathryn Bobbitt, Bells ‘80 · wife Christy live in Ann Arbor, MI Mark VanHooser, PVGC ‘95 · Mark Charles retired on June 28 after 40 Kathryn is a math teacher at West with their two sons, David and lives in Camby, IN with his wife years of working in Student Finan- High School in Bakersfield, CA. Adam. Jeff is working in sales for Jennifer and 3 children: Joey (born cial Aid. He plans to take it easy at She spends her summers doing Rockwell Automation and Christy 2001), Jake (‘03) and Katie (‘07). home in Libertyville, IL until his missionary work both in the US is a teacher with Saline Area wife, Laura, also retires in a couple and internationally. Schools. Jeff and Christy look of years. They plan to then move Parry Leavell, PVGC ‘96 · Parry forward to getting back to campus and his wife Tina welcomed their somewhere out West. Heidi Bash, Purduettes ‘81 · Heidi in the near future! first child, Luca Gian Leavell on and her husband Robert (CE ‘78) November 28, 2011. Rick Hefner, University Choir ‘76 celebrated their 31st year wed- Chris Myers, PVGC ‘07 · Chris com- · Rick and his wife Sue live in ding anniversary and reside in pleted his first semester at NYU, Manhattan Beach, CA with their Granger, IN. Daughter Rachel is Mark Duffy, University Choir ‘98 pursuing a M.A. in Graphic Com- two children. Rick is still singing graduating from Purdue in August · Mark is teaching math and social munications Management and with his church choir, a quartet, (3rd generation Boilermaker) and studies for the Anoka-Hennepin Technology. He is also working and some occasional solos in local future Boilermaker Melissa (17) School district in Minnesota. He with a team writing his first show, musical productions. will arrive soon. and his wife Jessica celebrated "SOCIAL LIFE: The Musical." their 10th anniversary in October. Have an update? Visit www.purdue.edu/pmo/alumni_news.shtml to share your news and see more alumni updates! Cayla Mustin · Lebanon, Indiana · Senior · Agricultural Education A Magical Time After my first semester at Purdue, I was certain of three things: I wanted to go into agriculture, I enjoyed Purduettes and I wanted to work at Disney for a semester. After one of my Sisters in Song returned from the Disney College Program, I began discovering ways to fit it in with my academic schedule and PMO commitments.
I applied to the program and received a role at Innoventions in EPCOT working primarily at the Sum of all Thrills attraction. I’m thankful for the mingling tips I gained through my years in PMO and I interacted not only with fellow cast members, but also with managers and guests. The mingling I was doing with a guest led to an interview for another internship working at EPCOT’s Living with the Land Greenhouses – my ultimate dream starting at Disney. Thankfully, I received the opportunity! At the greenhouses, I worked directly with growing Mickey-shaped cucumbers, tomato trees and other plants. Providing educational tours of the greenhouses to guests was also part of my job. PMO students are held to a high expectation, not only with music, but also with academics. Since Disney is so well known, guests have high expectations for the conduct of Disney cast members. My experience in PMO has taught me how to exceed guest expectations, a key ability to succeed with Disney.
Just like looking back at my years in PMO, what I remember most about the ten months I spent in Orlando are the friends I made. Both my Disney and PMO family will always have a magical place in my heart. In PMO there are “new” and “old” men and women, student leaders with the titles of Gold and Sir, Student Managers and Directors. Disney is the exact same, just with different names. Without each and every person performing the task ahead, the show could go on, but it really does take each and every person to allow the guest to have a magical time.
Can’t come to us? Bring us to you! Purdue Musical Organizations relies on performance revenue to fund our operating expenses. Without the support we receive from our generous show sponsors, we would not be able to provide our student performers with scholarships and awards, costume subsidies, travel opportunities and more. We are able to travel almost anywhere and tailor our performance to almost any occasion. To learn more, contact Lance Connolly at 800-893-3041 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Begin the booking process for a PMO ensemble today!
Student Successes Congratulations to Purduette senior Leanne Shideler on being tapped into Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, Glee Club junior Nicholas Miller and Purduette sophomore Julie Scherer on each receiving the Alpha Chi Omega Arts Scholarship Award for demonstrating excellence in the arts and University Choir senior Kendra Watkins and University Choir junior Chelsea Cogswell on being elected as Purdue Student Government Senators.
Also, the PMO student-produced PHENOMENA rock concert benefited Thank You to our Corporate Partners! the Ronald McDonald House of Indiana and the PMO students visited Gold Level Westminster Village Retirement Community and participated in a Purdue Federal Credit Union “Senior” Prom. We are extremely proud of all our PMO students and we the National Group wish our seniors a wonderful final semester. Thank you for all you have Silver Level done to further our program and university. We are going to miss you! Beaux Cheveux Styling Salon Follett’s Purdue Bookstores Purdue Alumni Association The Outpost Catering Texas Roadhouse
Emerald Level Lafayette Savings Bank Purdue Center for Cancer Research The Union Club Hotel
Ruby Level Duke Energy Homecare by Design J. Alan Goetz & Sons Auctions & Appraisals Rubia Flower Market Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc.
Media Partners WLFI TV-18
6 Yours in Song · 2012-13 Yours in Song · 2012-13 7 Our Historic Journey of Discovery Austria · Germany · Switzerland · France
This spring, the Purdue Varsity Glee Club, Purduettes and Purdue Bells will discover the history and beauty of Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France during a once-in-a-lifetime performance tour.
Several highlights from the tour include a performance at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, a visit to Melk Abbey, a concert at the Brucknerhaus, a tour of Salzburg’s salt mines, a visit of Mount Pilatus, a stop at the Eiffel Tower, a visit to Normandy and a performance at Notre Dame Cathedral.
Without the support of our generous PMO Club donors, we would not be able to offer such remarkable opportunities to our students. If you Our complete tour itinerary is available on our website would like to support our students, the ways to give are listed here. WAYS TO GIVE
Mail: Purdue Musical Organizations · Attn: PMO Club We hope you’ll follow along with us during the tour from May 14-28 by 712 Third Street · West Lafayette, IN 47907 (checks payable to “Purdue Foundation”) connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. More Phone: 800-893-3041 or 765-494-3945 information about connecting with PMO online can be found below. Online: http://www.purdue.edu/pmo/makeagift.shtml
New Merchandise PMO has released two new CDs! Then & Now features 25 selections from the Purduettes including five tracks from the 1950s, 80s & 90s. Celebrating A Timeless Tradition includes 26 songs from the Purdue Christmas Show. The selections range from 1955 through 2009. Each new CD is available for $15.
Visit www.purdue.edu/pmo/merchandise.shtml to learn more or call us at 800-893-3041 to order by phone. Additional merchandise is available on our website. Online ordering is not currently available. Shipping is $3 and Indiana residents should add 7% sales tax.
Thank You and Welcome Aboard!
After 19 years of service, On January 2, PMO PMO Account Clerk Kim welcomed Marty Jacoba as Van Meter has left Purdue our new Account Clerk. to join her husband who Marty is from Otterbein, accepted a position with IN and is a proud mother another university. Please and grandmother. Please join us in thanking Kim for join us in welcoming her many years of service! Marty to our PMO family! Kim Van Meter Marty Jacoba GET CONNECTED
To get connected with PMO on Facebook, visit www.facebook.com/PurduePMO and click “Like.” On Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/PurduePMO and click “Follow.” On LinkedIn, click Groups, then Group Directory and search for “Purdue Musical Organizations.” On YouTube, subscribe to our channel at www.youtube.com/user/PurduePMO. Purdue Musical Organizations 712 Third Street West Lafayette, IN 47907 800-893-3041 www.purdue.edu/pmo
2013 DATES TO KNOW
January
20 Glee Club, Indiana Inaugural Ball, Washington, D.C.
February 14 PMO Singing Valentines
March
8-13 Glee Club, Tennessee and Florida Performance Tour
22 PHENOMENA, West Lafayette
24 Glee Club and Indianapolis Children’s Choir, Hilbert Circle Theatre, Indianapolis
April
11 Glee Club and Purduettes, Center for the Performing PMO STAFF Arts, Carmel Vice President for Student Affairs 20 Purduette Spring Spectacular, Lafayette Dr. Melissa Exum
21 PMO Spring Show, West Lafayette Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. L. Tony Hawkins May Purdue Musical Organizations, Varsity Glee 9 European Tour Community Concert, West Lafayette Club and University Choir Director
William E. Griffel 11 Glee Club End of Season Concert, Lafayette Varsity Glee Club Assistant Director and PMO 14-28 PMO European Performance Tour Kids Choir Director August Ted Arthur
23 Glee Club First Nighter Concert, West Lafayette Purdue Bells Director Michelle Beimfohr 25 Picnic with the Purduettes, West Lafayette Business Manager September Deb Burrow
28 Purdue University Homecoming Director of Donor Relations & Events Lance Connolly October Account Clerk 5-6 Glee Club, St. Louis Performance Tour Marty Jacoba
November Purduettes and University Choir Assistant Director and Heart & Soul Director 3 PMO Fall Show, West Lafayette Jon Ranard
December Receptionist
Andrea Ridge 7-8 80th anniversary of the Purdue Christmas Show Director of Operations
This is not a complete listing. For details and Steve Schlenk many additional performances, please visit: Purduettes, All Campus & Community Chorale
and Recruitment Director www.purdue.edu/pmo Jeff Vallier
8 Yours in Song · 2012-13