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Jessica Dalrymple had never heard about Westminster Choir College when, in October 2015, Dr. Kevin McDonald, her choir director at Wellesley High School, announced that the Westminster Choir would visit the school during its January 2016 tour.

Little did she know that five years later - October 2020 - she’d have a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Westminster with a master’s degree on the horizon.

This enthusiastic future teacher from Massachusetts has been on quite a journey -- a journey that included traveling to Westminster for an open house, hearing the Westminster Choir perform at her high school, meeting the choir members, auditioning and connecting with aspiring musicians in the admitted students Facebook group.

“The kindness of the current students and getting to know some of my potential classmates said to me that this is the place where I should be,” she says.

Since enrolling as a Music Education major in 2016, Dalrymple has become an important part of the Westminster community.  She’s taken advantage of all that Westminster offers, both inside and outside of the classroom. After singing with the Westminster Chapel Choir in her freshman year, she performed with the Westminster Jubilee Singers as a sophomore. In her junior year she joined the Westminster Williamson Voices. She’s on the ensemble’s recordings Aurora, which was released earlier this year, and The Stars Now Rearrange Themselves, which will be released in 2021. The summer of 2019 she traveled to Oxford, England, where the Westminster Williamson Voices is the ensemble in residence for Westminster’s Choral Institute at Oxford. 

“It was such a fulfilling experience. I was very sad to leave,” she says. “And the virtual Oxford program this summer, with some amazing presenters, was awesome too.”

Outside of the classroom, Dalrymple’s been a member of the Deaftones, a student-led a cappella ensemble, and Westminster’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, the international music fraternity.

In her sophomore year she was elected secretary of the student chapter of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). Last year she was elected secretary of the New Jersey Music Educators (NJMEA) collegiate chapter and joined other members for the 2019 Collegiate Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C., where they met with members of Congress to advocate for music education.

Dalrymple also was one of several sophomores selected by Professor Frank Abrahams, who was leading Westminster’s Center for Community Engagement and Critical Pedagogy, to serve as research fellows and investigate ways that music lessons might align with Science, Engineering, Technology and Math. She was part of the Westminster and Rider delegation that presented their research at the Science Education for New Civic Engagement and Responsibility (SENCER) Summer Institute in California. Their work is now included in the book Aligning Music To STEM: Theory and Practice for Middle School General Music.

She says, “It was a fantastic opportunity for me to conduct my own research on project-based learning in music while also contributing to a larger research project on which I got to work with my friends!  It was also super fun to explore San José and San Francisco while we were in California for the conference!”

Last fall, she student taught with Westminster alumnus Mark Dolan ’01 at Newtown Middle School in Pennsylvania’s Council Rock School District, which is renowned for its music program. She was able to teach general music and work with the school’s three choirs, conducting the treble chorus for a portion of the winter concerts. 

Graduates of Westminster’s Music Education program are certified to teach music in grades K through 12, and Dalrymple says that she’d accept a position at any level, but she confides that she would prefer middle school since her music teacher was one of the “two best parts” of her own middle school experience.  “I want to be that teacher for someone else,” she says.

Outside of Westminster, Dalrymple is in her second year as a conducting fellow with the , home of the Princeton Girlchoir and Princeton Boychoir.  The fellowship has offered her many opportunities for professional development - first working with the students in person and now virtually, since the Academy’s programs have transitioned to online lessons and rehearsals.

She’s also taking advantage of Westminster’s 5-year program for music educators, and she expects to receive a Master of Music Education in May.

What’s it been like finishing her senior year and beginning grad school in a pandemic?

“Online learning is not super ideal for me,” she says.  “I definitely miss having choir in person. I miss seeing people in person. It was harder in the spring being in Massachusetts, but I returned to New Jersey in August.  Being with people in my class and alumni has made it better.”

Looking back over the past five years, has her Westminster experience lived up to her expectations?

“Absolutely,” she exclaims.  “It’s everything that I could have wanted and more.”

What advice would she offer to a high school senior thinking about a career in music?

“Look at Westminster Choir College. Everyone is rooting for you.  The community is unmatched. The experiences that you’ll have you can’t find them at any other school. Who else can say that they sang with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the span of a week!  And the people that you learn from. This school is unique.  You won’t find it anywhere else.”

PHOTOS: Jessica Dalrymple surrounded by members of the Westminster Choir at her high school.  Jessica Dalrymple as a member of the Westminster Williamson Voices.