Dear Prof.

Campbell,
I’ve never been good at writing letters and I always seem to get off track of what I’m
trying to say because my brain moves so fast from thought to thought. I will do my best to
convey who I am and what my interests are but please don’t hold me to it.
I’m from a small town in the western part of NC called Brevard. The population is around
8,000 but during the summer it almost doubles because of how many retirees from Florida come
to spend their summer in the cool mountain air. We have 3 state forests that are a part of our
county which also brings tourists by the thousands each day, and we also have over 50 summer
camps. I grew up in the mountains hiking, going to summer camps, and having old (but very
nice) retirees all over downtown. I’m an only child but I count my older cousins as siblings for the
most part. My family has three cats, London, Thalia, and Luna who are some of the biggest
jerks I ever met. I went to the local public high school in Brevard which wasn’t very big at all, I
had the same friends all the way from kindergarten to senior year. I like the small town life and
the place that I’m from is beautiful but I really wanted a drastic change in where I went to
college. I’ve always loved big cities and all that they had to offer so I chose the biggest one in
the state and I’m loving every minute of it.
Ever since I was in 5th grade I have been pursuing music, whether that be piano, singing
or playing the ukulele. I have been in choir for 9 years and have done multiple competitions
involving choirs and also solo work. I always had a passion for teaching kids and also a passion
for music so I thought, why not put them together? Learning about music at college is so
amazing because I get to focus on what I’ve always loved to do. This semester I’m taking an
intro into music education course and I could not be more excited. Being a music major is
somewhat difficult because of the number of classes I take per semester, which is about 9 at the
moment. Four of them are ensembles/studio courses which are all one credit and the rest are
either theory, music ed classes, or general education courses.
I know you probably hear about school and courses all the time so I’ll move to my
hobbies. I really enjoy writing poetry in my spare time, I get a lot of inspiration from my
grandmother who was a poet herself. I’ve written a couple of songs that are based around her
poems, some of which I can play on the piano or ukulele and others I have only written a
melody line. I also journal as much as I can, I often find myself not having enough time to reflect
on my life in words because it moves so fast. I really enjoy art and like to visit art museums
when I have a free day and just reflect on each piece. My roommate is an art education major
so I also get to enjoy the artwork she does. I have never been the best at math or science so I
usually like to push myself in history, art, music, and English and I’m really excited to have a
course this semester where I can have open discussions and write about things that require a
lot of reflection and thought. I like to think about concepts and the big picture, especially in
philosophy and art. If you haven’t come to the conclusion already, I like to think.
Recently I’ve had a lot of people ask me “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” and I
thought about it a lot over winter break. Many things can happen in 10 years but I think I have a
pretty good picture in my head of what it might look like. I really want to move to New York or
Pittsburgh and teach music to kids from low-income neighborhoods. I really want to help kids
feel safe and loved through music. I’m the kind of person that really takes things to heart, which
is a curse and a blessing. I always try to find something to take away from an experience and I
hope that from this semester, and this writing class, I can take away something that will help me
achieve my goals, may it be 10 or 50 years.

See you on Thursday,

Emily (Emmy) Sheffield

Pictures!