Robinson No. 1 at Saint Mary's
By EMILY BRAMMER
News Writer
Meghann Robinson said that she is not the type of student who spent all of her time studying in the library, but her love for her studies helped her to achieve a 4.0 grade point average and the title of Saint Mary's 2003 valedictorian.
Graduating with a bachelor of arts in music and a minor in mathematics, Robinson will deliver the valedictory address at Commencement May 17.
"I attribute much of my success to support from my family, especially my parents," said Robinson. "And I found something to study that I really enjoyed. When you study something that you love, it hardly seems like work sometimes."
After graduation, Robinson will serve for The Alliance for Catholic Education, a two-year service program allowing college graduates to serve as full-time teachers in under-resourced Catholic schools across the southern United States in return for a tuition-free master of education degree from Notre Dame.
Robinson will spend two summers studying at Notre Dame and two school years teaching in Nashville. She said she wants to keep her options open upon completion of the ACE program, and considers pursuing graduate work in music theory.
"I'm more interested in teaching than performing academic research, said Robinson. "I appreciate the value that Saint Mary's places on educating; and, after benefiting from a school where the focus is on teaching, I realized that I also want to be an educator. But I don't want to just teach. I want to be good at it."
Originally Robinson applied to Xavier University, University of Dayton, and Saint Mary's and Notre Dame — all Catholic universities. But after visiting South Bend one summer, she finally made her decision to go to Saint Mary's.
"I really wanted to attend a smaller school," she said. "One of the greatest aspects of the music department here is that it's so small, and as a result there are so many opportunities that I wouldn't have gotten elsewhere. If I could make the decision again, I'd definitely come to Saint Mary's."
Robinson belonged to the Women's Choir and served as a member of the Choir Board. She was elected to represent the music department in the Student Academic Council her junior and senior year and volunteered with Campus Ministry.
Robinson grew up in West Chester, Ohio and attended Mount Notre Dame High School there.
All News Stories for Friday, July 11, 2003
