For Katelyn Parker, the May 2015 Commencement ceremony at Pellissippi State was a milestone opportunity -- and it wasn't even her own graduation.
"Last May, I got a call from one of our faculty members, Peggy Hinkle, that the person who was supposed to sing the national anthem had become sick," Parker said. "So she asked me if I could come down to Thompson-Boling Arena in two hours and sing the national anthem, and it just worked out that I was able to get off work and get down there to do that."
Little Parker knew, when she agreed to perform, what opportunities would unfold from the experience.
"It turns out that in the audience that night was a Nashville businessman who was a producer of the country singer Ronnie Milsap," she said. "He ended up contacting Peggy, asking to be put in touch with me so he could tell me that he really liked my voice. When Peggy posted a video of me singing on Facebook, he told her he really wanted to speak to me about the possibility of recording, so she eventually passed his contact information on to me."
That opened a weeks-long chain of communications involving Parker, her parents and Rob Galbraith, the producer with ties to the Nashville music scene.
"When I heard her sing at the graduation ceremony, I just loved the effortlessness of what she did, along with the fact that she didn't do a world of 'vocal gymnastics,'" Galbraith said.
"I could only imagine the believability and interpretation she could bring to other songs, which is why I contacted her. Who knows what may come of all this, but quite frankly, Katelyn is too good a singer not to be heard."
Eventually, Galbraith put Parker in touch with Mike Reid, who is currently composing a musical titled "Casanova Returns," and Parker was able to record one of the musical's original songs, "Have You Forgotten?"
"It's sung by a daughter to her mother after the mother is reprimanding the daughter, and the daughter is asking if the mother has forgotten what it feels like to fall in love," Parker said.
She and her parents traveled to Nashville to record the track in the composer's home recording studio.
"I felt like I had my own Disney princess song."
But for Parker, even a potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like that isn't her favorite memory of her time thus far at Pellissippi State. That claim belongs to her study abroad trip with the Variations Ensemble in March.
"It was an amazing trip," she said. "We had the opportunity to see so much history and culture by performing in all of these churches and cathedrals. But really, it's one of my fondest memories because it was our last week with our former music director, Bill Brewer. It's strange now to be back in the Music program without him."
Brewer passed away the week after the trip.
"Someday, I hope to teach music," Parker said. "I want to teach music and perform." She plans to transfer to a four-year university next fall once she graduates with an Associate of Fine Arts in Music from Pellissippi State in May 2016. She ultimately intends to pursue a master's degree.
