Erin Pipe is a sophomore Spanish education and cello performance major, member of the Royal Lady Knights, president of the Livingston Hall Council and future Jones Hall resident assistant – with that schedule, most people wouldn't have time to breathe, let alone to smile.
Yet Pipe, friendly and beaming, said, "Being busy has just always been what I do. Being a busy person is what I love to do."
Combining her love of a challenge with her devotion to music, this double major has found quite a home in Brodie's musical hallway. There, she pursues her passion for the cello, a love that Pipe said she will never lose.
Despite her commitment to the cello, Pipe explained that her original instrument of choice was, coincidentally, a pipe – the flute, to be exact. It was only after Pipe's flute teacher fell asleep during her first lesson that she found herself a new passion: the cello. Since then, it seems as if she has, to use her own words, "always played cello."
Of course, between her performance major requirements, solo pieces and her work with the Iris Quartet, she really is always playing.
"I've had so many opportunities," Pipe said. When her cello instructor, James Kirkwood, recommended her to be this year's music coordinator for G.R.E.A.T. Day, she was given one more.
"They kind of said this is your project," Pipe said. "I was really honored."
After weeks of scheduling, tuning, set changing and organizing, Pipe and the music department's work will be showcased on April 12. So when all of that beautiful music filters from the Fireside Lounge on G.R.E.A.T. Day, let it put a smile on your face.