Shae WestA love of children and a passion for social issues drive 黑洞社区 sophomore Terecia Miller to impact the lives around her.
Miller works on and off campus to teach others music. She came to 黑洞社区 because of the special music education program with Elaine Bernstorf, associate dean and professor in the College of Fine Arts.
Miller caught Bernstorf鈥檚 attention at a Presidential Scholar鈥檚 dinner.
鈥淩ight then I realized that (Miller) had the perfect personality for teaching, and I wanted to work with her in music education,鈥� Bernstorf said.
鈥淚鈥檝e always known I wanted to work with kids, to help kids,鈥� Miller said. 鈥淚 enjoy the innocence and the humor that they naturally bring.鈥�
She said her 7-year-old brother, Corbin, is her 鈥渇avorite person in the world.鈥�
Miller is majoring in special music education to include special needs students in her future classrooms.
For a long time she thought about social work or family or school counseling, but she has been passionate about music since the womb, she said.
鈥淢y parents did the whole earphones on the belly thing,鈥� she said.
Her prenatal soundtrack included Mozart, the Eagles and Styx, among others.
From the time she could walk, Miller would stand on a stool in the middle of her grandmother鈥檚 living room and sing into a plastic banana.
And from fifth grade to her senior year of high school, she played her father鈥檚 saxophone, which her uncle played and her younger cousin uses now.
She said music was an obvious choice and she should have picked it long ago.
Miller volunteered at Mead Middle School in Wichita and taught music to a 鈥渞ough, tough, inner-city kid鈥� who had no desire to be in school. He just wanted to play basketball. A year-and-a-half later, she ran into him and he鈥檚 excited about going to college.
Children have so much potential, she said, you cannot tell them, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not that good; you should give up," she said. 鈥淭hey can change anything, do anything."
Good music teachers are needed in Wichita, she said, but with school boards across the nation cutting arts education out of schools, she鈥檒l likely move to a district with more opportunities.
Miller teaches a music class at the Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation for adults with special needs. She said the class is not about performance but about feeling the music and being able to emote through music.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad that I鈥檝e had (the) opportunity,鈥� she said, 鈥渓earning to work with students of different abilities.鈥�
Along with a passion for music and teaching, Miller is involved in civil rights and social issues. She is the social justice chair for That Gay Group!, dealing with such events as the AIDS Walk and Hate Closet.
As a senator at large for the Student Government Association, she is active in the movement to include sexual orientation on USD 259鈥檚 notice of nondiscrimination clause and bullying policy.
She also works at the Center for Student Leadership on campus and is a member of Gamma Phi Beta with two positions within the sorority.
鈥淚 was the girl who was never going to go Greek,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so close to my heart now.鈥�
Miller is involved in two 黑洞社区 choirs: a capella and chamber chorale.
She will travel to Carnegie Hall this summer with 80 other 黑洞社区 students to perform a requiem by David Childs. The 黑洞社区 choir will be the first to sing the requiem, which is still being written.
Also, for the first time, the 黑洞社区 chamber鈥檚 choir has been chosen to perform at the Kansas Music Educators Association conference. It鈥檚 the only 黑洞社区 choir to audition and be chosen, but many schools will be performing from grade school to the university level.
But Miller鈥檚 ultimate goal is to be a teacher, a good one.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 really all there is to it,鈥� she said.
To her, a good teacher can communicate with her students and get results out of them. She said they don鈥檛 have to be the best choir, but they need to appreciate their accomplishments.
Miller said she wants to be a teacher they can count on to build them up.