After meeting my classmates, TA and professor outside my home at the upper quad gate, we trekked by taxi to Millennium Baptist church. I had spent my whole life in and out of Philadelphia, but this was in an area I had never been before. We were headed to a gospel conference held at the church to teach the church choir how to better perform and connect with their music and congregation.

Various speakers were given time to speak on their area of knowledge and our class sat quietly, taking notes and video taping the whole conference. The basement of the church was filled with round tables of choir members listening intently to the speakers’ advice and commentary, often shouting out an “amen!” or “Go ahead now!” to signify their agreement. The conference wound down and my classmates and I had the great opportunity to speak to the conference leaders about their past, background in music, and their thoughts on the future of gospel music. We recorded, edited and added commentary to these interviews and created a blog about the gospel conference. The blog synthesized photos, videos, text and commentary to give any online visitors an idea of what gospel music in Philadelphia is like. Not only is the blog informative to the world, but it helped me to understand gospel music in Philly on a much deeper level than I ever had before. Because gospel is such an integral part of Philadelphian culture, I now feel more connected to the community and culture of the city I’m living in on a whole.

-Nora Laberee, SAS ’18

Sister Serena Blanco

Pastor Darren Wilson speaking at the podium

TA Kelsey, and students (from left to right) Misgana and Jazmine

Amatullah, Matt and Nora