Sigma Alpha Iota

DUET Alpha Mu SAIs Bond to Fight Cancer By Nicholas Ducassi Alpha Mu president Jamie Burrows shared her experience with fellow chapter member Lauren Nicole Eshbaugh for Carnegie Mellon University's magazine. Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in the April 2012 Carnegie Mellon Today. It is reprinted with permission. S urrounded by wildflower fields near the edge of a rocky cliff on the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer, France, Jamie Nicole Burrows, president of the Sigma Alpha Iota Alpha Mu Chapter at Carnegie Mellon University, stares out to sea. All summer, she has been taking these hikes. They've helped the Carnegie Mellon voice major decompress after training at the Lyrique-en-Mer opera festival with some of the world's greatest singers. The hikes have also given her an interlude before her upcoming senior year. What's in store for her might intimidate a burly bari-tenor, let alone this 98-pound, five-foot-one soprano. Before her May 2012 graduation, she and 190 of her classmates will perform on April 2 at what many consider the mecca for musicians: New York City's Carnegie Hall. The concert is a celebration of the School of Music's Centennial Anniversary and will reprise a March 31 celebratory concert at Pittsburgh's Benedum Center. In addition to the students performing, alumni young and old, with more than a few Grammy and Tony winners among them, will take the stage. Burrows has this to look forward to while trying to maintain her 3.9 GPA and fulfill her senior recital. And figure out what to do after graduation. Gulp. No matter how stressful the upcoming school year becomes, Burrows reassures herself during her ocean-side walks that she can handle whatever happens because of her best friend, Lauren Nicole Eshbaugh. It's a warm afternoon during the first day of Carnegie Mellon's August 2008 freshmen orientation week. In between the scheduled activities, Burrows, a doe-eyed freshman, watches from a campus bench as hoards of classmates she has yet to meet pass by. Her parents are traveling back home to Tucson, Ariz., about 2,000 miles away. Although Burrows doesn't know anyone, she already feels at home. Suddenly, her thoughts of tranquility are interrupted. "Hi!" Burrows looks up. A modelesque blonde, wearing a flowing dress and perhaps too much blush, towers above her. "I'm Lauren." Burrows recognizes her from orientation activities. They get acquainted, and when they realize they have more in common than they can share from a campus bench, they head to Eshbaugh's dorm room. In addition to their identical middle names, they both have an insatiable appetite for performance training, a deep love of music, and a shared history in youth choirs. Neither can wait for their next four years of studies at the School of Music, widely praised for its conservatory training, dual emphasis on academics and performance, and tradition of graduating legendary musicians. The school's vocal alumni roll-call is rife with Metropolitan Opera and Broadway singers. And the list of non-vocal majors is just as notable, including composers of Hollywood films and television shows, professors in the best music schools in the country (including Carnegie Mellon), and principal instrumentalists and conductors in renowned orchestras around the world. As for Burrows and Eshbaugh, it's as if they will step into the shoes of past success stories. In addition to their identical middle names, Jamie Nicole Burrows and Lauren Nicole Eshbaugh both have an insatiable appetite for performance training, a deep love of music, and a shared history in youth choirs. 24 PAN PIPESSPRING 2012 sai-national.org

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