Madeline Heraty is a Millersville senior with a passion for music, teaching and her faith. She is a music education major and has been singing for the MU Jazz Band as one of their vocalists for 2 years. She says that singing with a big ensemble like Jazz Band makes her feel like Ella Fitzgerald or Sara Vaughan, staples of jazz. She describes herself as having an “old soul,” making jazz a fitting favorite for her. One of her favorite opportunities she’s had with the Jazz Band was when the group opened for the Glenn Miller Orchestra, where she performed “When Sunny Gets Blue,” her favorite piece to sing.
She has also been heavily involved in Millersville’s chapter of RUF (Reformed Campus Ministries) throughout her time in college. This year, she has been the Freshmen Small Group leader for the organization. She describes it as being “one of the best experiences I’ve had in college, getting the chance to reach students through Christ…every week is new and exciting. I will surely miss it when I graduate.” Each week she and another RUF member, David, lead a group of freshmen from a variety of faith backgrounds in discussions about a selected text, as well as their faith and life in Christ. “Me and friend David absolutely love our freshies!” she added in her usual, very positive manner. (Her freshies love her back, too!)
Fun Question: Do you have a funny family memory from Thanksgiving?
So we were over at a family friend’s house one year and we all brought a bunch of dishes together, and the family friend’s house we were at, Krista, had made a French Silk pie. Now I didn’t like pumpkin pie at the time, because my taste buds go through evolutions, I love it now but I didn’t then. So I was so excited to eat this chocolate pie. So that same night, we were all in the basement and the Thanksgiving football game was on. Upstairs their puppy, cute little golden-doodle, his name was Murphy, got up somehow and ate the entire French Silk, chocolate pie. And we were all really scared, cause dogs can’t have chocolate, but he was fine, threw up a little bit and it was really gross. But it was all really funny, because us kids were all really upset that the chocolate pie was gone because the dog ate it all.