Honors and Arts

How UI Students Keep Passion Alive

By Sofia Gregorio and Karina Murray

Honors students at the University of Iowa are full of passion, in and out of their academics. The fine arts are alive and well in Iowa City, and students find multitudes of ways to keep music in their schedules. 

The UI itself offers a variety of fine-arts centric programs, including academic choirs, extracurricular a cappella groups, bands, orchestras, plays, musicals, and many other audition opportunities. Getting involved with fine arts on campus is natural for most music-lovers, but the task of finding your place can be challenging.

Liz Sleper, a second-year honors student at the UI, signed up to audition for a cappella just a day before auditions were held during her first-year. Though it was a shot in the dark, she was offered a spot in an a cappella group called the Hawkapellas.

The Hawkapellas are UI’s all-female-identifying a cappella group composed of undergraduate treble clef singers. They rehearse weekly, perform various gigs throughout the year, and compete annually at the ICCA’s.

Sleper, a journalism major, finds that being a member of the Hawkapellas allows music into her weekly schedule. 

“Hawkapellas is definitely outside the scope of my academic life, but I like it even more for that fact,” Sleper said.

Pre-college interests don’t have to fade away in college, and pursuing them offers students the opportunity to find friends who share their passions. 

Sleper said, “I did a lot of choir and singing before college, so not only has it been incredible to continue down that avenue, but I’ve been able to do it with cool, funny, ambitious people as well.”

Though her areas of study do not pertain to music, Sleper feels her college experience has been improved because of her involvement with the Hawkapellas. 

“I believe one of the best things you can do for your mind is to show a continual interest in the arts,” Sleper asserted.

Auditions are nerve-racking, but well worth the trouble for honors students exploring their love for singing. Nursing interest major Brynlie Peery shared insight into why she auditioned for Camerata Singers, a UI choral ensemble composed of UI students and faculty, in the fall of her first-year.

“Singing is one of my greatest passions in life. I didn’t think I was going to have the time for it in college, so I was happy to see [the music program] had night classes.” Peery said.

For those worried about auditioning, Peery can ease your worries. Auditioning for UI choirs felt very similar to her high school audition process, consisting of sight-reading and singing a 30-second interval of your choice in front of instructors.

Peery feels that choir allows her to build skills and de-stress, creating space for success. Seeking academic excellence and pursuing musical greatness are surprisingly related. 

“In sight-reading and having the trust to hit the right notes and do the right things, it builds a lot of confidence,” said Peery. “There is also the de-stressing factor. Music helps you lower cortisol; it has so many benefits.”

Madeleine Hartleip is pursuing a master’s in conducting and began conducting the UI choir, Camerata Singers, in the fall semester of 2025. As an undergraduate, Hartliep was a music education major with an emphasis in choir, and she went on to teach elementary and middle school music in Texas and Iowa.

“My inspiration to instruct Camerata Singers ultimately comes back to my first music teacher, Julie Anderson. She is a wonderful person and gave me the passion for music.” Hartleip said.

Many honors students’ ambitions extend beyond the classroom and into their respective passions.

“I think academic excellence translates to artistic excellence in choir, because we are always striving for more,” she said. “You can never reach perfection, but our goal is excellence, so I think the choir mirrors academic excellence in that way.”

Hartleip believes there are many skills to be learned in a choir that are transferable to other areas of student life.

“A skill that is very big in choir is listening skills. There is a lot of collaboration in a choir. You learn how to work with people and reach a common goal together. Another skill is commitment and dedication,” she continued; “People in Camerata Singers show up from 7:15 pm - 9:15 pm twice a week, which takes some energy.”

Auditioning for a UI choir may seem intimidating, but Hartleip has inspiring words for anyone afraid to try.

“I encourage you to try what scares you, because something cool may happen, it’s never as bad as it seems, the camaraderie you find in a choral setting makes it so worth it.”

Similar to Peery and Sleper, when first-year honors student Ayla Kee arrived at the UI, she knew she had to find a way to preserve her life’s passion of drumming.

Palms sweating, heart pounding, Kee stepped up to the drumset at the Black Angel, a local Iowa City restaurant and bar, on a random Wednesday in August. A few months later, she and some new college friends were working to form a band. 

Local restaurants like the Black Angel often host events, like open-sign-up jam nights, to build community in Iowa City. 

“The Black Angel gave me an opportunity to get involved with music-lovers on campus,” Kee said. “I’ve played a few gigs with some people I met there, and now I attend blues jams all the time and know people there who are excited to hear me play.”

Kee met one of her new bandmates at a blues jam night. After realizing they both played instruments, they decided to start practicing together. An Instagram story and some crowd-sourcing later, they formed a band of four female UI students.

“We rehearse every Friday or Monday, and we just finished writing our first song!” Kee said. “It’s been super cool to form a band, and it gives me something to be excited about outside of my normal responsibilities.”
 

Kee feels that both playing in her band and gigs around Iowa City have allowed her to connect more with other people and her experience at the UI. 

“I need music in my life. It keeps the joy in it, you know?” Kee concluded.