Katie Padilla ’09
Hometown: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Major: Instrumental music education

Growing up in Sioux Falls, I would attend Augustana’s annual Bandfest, which brings together students from high school bands for workshops, rehearsals and a concert. So I already knew all about the great reputation of Augie’s music program. And because it’s a private Lutheran liberal arts college, I knew I would get a good education here. But I’m still amazed at all the ways music students can get involved at Augustana.

I play the clarinet and the bassoon, and I’m in the Augustana Band plus a whole lot of ensembles—wind, orchestra, clarinet choir and jazz lab. I’m also the paid student assistant for the New Horizons Band, a group of people over age 50 from Sioux Falls and the surrounding area who play for fun. And I’m on the central committee for Bandfest, which a lot of people don’t realize is completely run by Augustana students. That’s another exceptional thing about Augie—all of the leadership opportunities you can find.

I’m also the secretary of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) student organization, which provides lots of networking opportunities for music education majors. We lean on each other because we’re all going through the same things in our classes. We get to hear from upperclassmen about their student-teaching experiences, go over tips for preparing for the PRAXIS, and bring in guest speakers to talk about things like teaching collaboratively, conducting a show choir, and other topics.

One of the things I’ll never forget is traveling to China with the Augustana Band in January 2007. We were there for 21 days and did nine performances. We had free days to just be tourists in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing. It was like a different world over there. So amazing!

After I graduate, I plan to become a music teacher for anywhere for grades 5 to 12, and I’d like to study towards earning a master’s degree during the summers. Eventually, I would love to work at a large high school as the director of a marching band.

I have to say, the music department at Augustana is very demanding, but you definitely get a lot out of it—you work for your degree, and you learn so much.