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All of Anima alumni have a few things in common; an appreciation for the music education and music performance opportunities they received and an understanding of the benefits of discipline and striving for excellence they were taught in their years in the Chorus. Their career paths are varied, but almost all of them continue to sing in some form or another and truly appreciate the performances of others.

Anu Nagpal  
12/2008 Currently resides in Zurich, Switzerland where she is on the verge of finishing law school. She also sings with the FeMale Funk Project with her school. She is also in a band called Acoustic Sweets and has performed for the European Soccer Championships 2008, the Africa Integration Festival of Zurich, as well as loads of private concerts at bars and clubs all over Zurich.  

 

Elena Korpalski
10/2008 After graduating from the University of Illinois in Champaign with a degree in music education, Elena relocated to the St. Louis area where she has found success working for Bank of America.  A career in music may be in the future, but for now she is enjoying participating in the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. 

 

Alice Brown (Thompson)
8/2008 Currently resides in Naperville, IL with her husband, Phil, and cat, Buster. She is completing her Master’s Degree in Music Education from Northern Illinois University and is student-teaching. After years of private teaching, coaching, and judging ensembles, she is thrilled that her passion for music and love of teaching can be combined to support music in the public schools.

 

Jennifer Gaskins
7/2008 She recently completed her Master’s degree in voice performance and pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey. Jennifer is currently a member of the Princeton Festival’s opera chorus, an active church musician performing in the New York and Philadelphia areas, and teaches private voice and piano lessons. 

 

William Pollock
6/2008 William currently lives with his wife Maria on the northwest side of Chicago with their two kids, Ella (6) and Martin (1). He has worked in information technology since attending the University of Illinois. Maria is a piano technician and player, Ella is learning guitar, and he is learning to play upright bass.

 

Tim Loversky
5/2008 Tim and his wife Mary are the proud parents of Maggie (8) and Sam (6), both of whom are in MEC programs with the Chorus.  Tim is the principal of Lakewood School in Carpentersville, IL which has made great gains in academic achievement during Tim’s tenure. He is very proud of the staff and students. Tim has twice served on the board of directors for Anima.

 

Neil Bergquist
4/2008 Neil graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont with a dual degree in Geography and French. He lives in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston and is a Director at Observant LLC, a strategic market research consulting firm specializing in custom market research for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.  Neil specializes in qualitative research techniques and manages research engagements throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. 

 

Todd Smith
3/2008 Todd lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Kellie and their two children, Reagan and Jacob. After earning a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Sam Houston State University, Todd was in law enforcement for a number of years. He is currently the president of Todd Smith & Associates, a political consulting company representing elected officials and candidates at the Federal, state, and local levels. He is also the General Partner of Impact Texas/Impact US a lobbying and Public Affairs Company representing a number of corporate and trade association clients before the United States Congress and various state legislatures.

 

Christine Fenne (Kohout)
1/2008 Christine is married to Craig and they have two children, Carson (3) and Kayla (7 mo). She graduated from the University of Iowa and now works as a Sales Representative at Alphagraphics in Wheaton.

 

Carmen Smits
10/2007 Carmen graduated from Calvin College with a double major in Vocal Music Education and Vocal Performance. She is now in her second year of teaching and enjoying her dream job as PreK-5 music teacher at Hudsonville Christian School in Hudsonville, MI. . She has begun working on her Masters of Music Education degree at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago.

 

Larissa Siegel
9/2007 Larissa married Joseph Donnelly in November and they now reside in Newport News, VA with their puppy Riley. Larissa has a Masters Degree in Music Education from the University of Florida and has taught in Garland TX, Atlanta GA and San Antonio TX.

 

Bret Kehoe
6/2007 Bret is currently  studying Communications and Spanish at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

 

Kiki Osbourne
5/2007 Kiki lives in Staunton, VA where she spends her days caring for horses, teaching riding lessons, and riding/training competition horses. She also sings in the Staunton Choral Society.

 

Lauren Paulus
4/2007 Lauren credits the chorus with inspiring her to pursue a lifelong passion for singing and has made singing and performing her career focus.

 

Allison Ahlgrim
3/2007 She is still singing and had the wonderful opportunity to study for one semester in Paris where she sang in the mass choir at St. Eustache. The sight reading she learned at the chorus was crucial to her singing with the choir every Sunday morning for the main service, as it required reading new music every week and practically sight-reading anything from Goudimel to Vittoria to Bach, in one of four different languages (French, Latin, German, and a French-pronounced English).

 

Cary Lovett
2/2007 Cary lives in Park Ridge, Illinois, raising five kids, Megan, Brian, Nathan, Charlie and Bennett with his wife, Debbie. He is a member of Chicago A Cappella and sings and records with various choirs throughout Chicago. Cary also cantors masses, weddings and funerals and wherever a church or synagoge needs a tenor.

 

Jessica Rau Lofbomm
1/2007 Jessica and her husband Adam moved to Paju, South Korea where she is teaching English and singing at every opportunity. She released her debut CD "Tonic" in June, 2006.

 

Margo Pratt Matthew
11/2006 Margo is a lifelong Glen Ellyn resident and has been a longtime parent volunteer in various capacities while her daughter Erin sang with the chorus for 8 years. Margo also serves on the chorus board. Margo’s first performance was singing in the Nun’s chorus of The Glen Ellyn Children’s Theater production of The Sound of Music under the direction of GECC Founder Barbara Born. Her sister Leslie was Maria Von Trapp and her mother, Bonnie was a founding parent volunteer, costume chair and one of the longtime “Robe Ladies”. Her late brother Peter loved the chorus immensely and stayed in even as his voice changed! Currently, Margo is the Director of Development for Bridge Communities, Inc., a private not for profit organization whose mission is to promote self-sufficiency by providing transitional housing, supportive services and mentoring to homeless families in DuPage County.

 

Jen Evrard
10/2006 After 11 years in the chorus Jenny continues to sing while she pursues her degree at De Paul University.

 

Laura Winans Lee
9/2006 She is a longtime resident of Glen Ellyn who sang under the direction of Doreen Rao. She and her husband Nik have two children: Madeline,(a chorister) and Nate, (a former chorister). Laura is a teacher in Glen Ellyn where she is always looking for new choristers. She has a master’s degree in education along with additional graduate level coursework in specialized fields of gifted education, math and language arts. Her long list of community volunteerism includes being a current chorus Board member.

 

Ashley Damron
5/2006 Ashley moved to Pennsylvania to study at Villanova University where she also sang in both a capella and chamber choirs. She graduated with a degree in Political Science and Chinese, and then completed her Master's in Security Policy Studies, focusing on Asian Studies and Conflict Resolution, at George Washington University in Washington DC. This led to her job at the Pentagon working for the Air Force

 

Karl Langkamp
4/2006 Karl lives in Oklahoma where he is a pipeline controller for British Petroleum (BP). He still loves to sing, plays in a weekly poker game, watches the Cubs, plays in a softball league and golfs.

 

Erica Burtner Anderson
3/2006 Married to Collin Anderson, a bassoonist, and mother to Daphne, Erica is an active free-lance oboist in the Chicago area. She She is a founding member of Quintet Attacca, the winner of the Wind Gold Medal and Grand Prize of the 2002 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Erica has been a soloist with the chorus for a number of concerts. She teaches oboe at Lake Forest College, the Music Institute of Chicago, and Wheeling and Buffalo Grove high schools.

 

Randy Knott
1/2006 Randy is married to Amy, has a son Barrett, and lives in Montgomery, Illinois where he can occasionally be seen paddling his kayak on the Fox River and singing to the geese. A construction project manager by day, Randy is an aspiring actor by night.

 

Christopher Bill
12/20/05 Chris wrote from Iraq where he is was serving in the army. Engaged to Amber Ragland of Nashville, he said his job puts him in harm's way on a daily basis, and yet still says the boredom is one of the worst parts of the job.