Senior Profile: Olivia Mansfield

As a member of high school choir for four years and a Chamber singer for two, Olivia has devoted countless hours of time to perfecting the craft she loves the most––music. During the year, Olivia held the title of Co-Choir President and handled the non-musical aspects of choir. The most taxing task Olivia took on was designing the T-shirts for the spring concert––working almost entirely alone, she dealt with collecting sizes and money from 400 students.

“Nothing about working as the president isn’t fun for me,” Olivia said. “I like being busy, and I wouldn’t rather be busy with anything else.”

From the beginning, Olivia was musically involved. Whether she was attending the choir concerts of her mother, Mary Ann Mansfield, or preparing a duet with her, music has always proven a big part of her life. Even when Olivia was at an early age, Mary Ann knew that her daughter would excel in music.

“Not only does she have a beautiful voice,” Mary Ann said, “but she is so musical and that is an inherent gift that can’t always be taught.”

Olivia isn’t able to accurately describe the root of her passion.

“I can’t say when I ‘fell in love’ with music,” Olivia said. “It’s all I’ve known my entire life.”

In the fall, Olivia is heading up to Minnesota to attend St. Olaf College to major in music education. After spending time with choir director Ken Foley, Mansfield knew that teaching music was all she would ever want to do.

“You have to have a passion for your subject, which is music,” Foley said. “You have to love it enough to want to teach it to others, and know it well enough.”

Passion is something that Olivia isn’t lacking in. This past year she took on teaching a cadet class for the women’s choir. During this time, she got the chance to have a hands-on experience as a legitimate choral director. Olivia lead the girls in various songs and arrangements. After an entire year of cadet teaching, she stood on stage with the women’s choir and directed them at the last choir concert of her high school career.

“Mr. Foley makes it look so simple on a daily basis,” Olivia said. “But as soon as I turned around and 70 girls were staring at me, it suddenly wasn’t as easy.”

After teaching the girls, Olivia took away new-found respect for what it’s like to pass on learned knowledge. As well as teaching the lessons, she found that she was learning things on a daily basis.

“[The women’s choir] really taught me a lot of lessons,” Olivia said, “the biggest one being that if you really care about something and work hard at it, others will see that and help you succeed.”

Foley has no doubt that Olivia has what it takes to succeed in musical education. After watching her and the way she taught the women’s choir, It was apparent that she was inclined.

“She really has the passion for music,” Foley said. “I think she would be a great music teacher.”
After St. Olaf, Olivia has plans to find a teaching job and begin to make her “difference.”

“I hope that my classroom can provide a safe place for students that need it,” Olivia said, “and I hope to change lives through music.”