2006 CCHS grad returns to music program

Whitney Hamblin was attending Southeast Electric Cooperative's 75th Annual Meeting earlier this summer when a chance conversation with an old friend and current Ekalaka Public Schools teacher, Amy Walker, led to her eventually applying for the open music teacher position. Hamblin was living in Bloomington, Indiana and traveled to Ekalaka to attend the meeting since it was her father's last meeting as the coop's manager. In fact, her entire family attended and provided the musical entertainment for the occasion.

Hamblin first came to Ekalaka from Star Valley, Wyoming in the seventh grade. She graduated from CCHS in 2006 and was an accomplished vocalist throughout high school. Upon graduation, she attended Brigham Young University in Rexburg, Idaho and graduated with a degree in voice performance and a minor in French. She then lived in Seattle for a few years where she worked with the Seattle Opera and was the program's youth coach. She also sang in their summer program, performing opera scenes.

After Seattle, Hamblin went back to school at BYU in Provo, Utah and obtained a master's in voice performance. While attending BYU, she was a part of three separate college productions and started working with the Utah Opera in Salt Lake City.

As an adjunct professor at BYU, she taught undergraduates for two years. It was then, Hamblin says, that she realized she loved teaching music more than performing operas.

That passion led to her applying to get into the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington. While working towards her doctorate in music there, Hamblin also continued to hone her teaching skills as an associate instructor. She gave private lessons and taught group voice classes to undergraduates. She finished a minor in music education and will finish completing her doctorate while teaching in Ekalaka.

"The timing was just good," Hamblin said about the open teaching position in her hometown. "It seemed pretty darn perfect."

Hamblin was hired in late June and moved to Ekalaka with the help of her father in July. She has a two-year old miniature Aussie named Indy and a few chickens to keep her busy. Aside from teaching and working on her doctorate, she enjoys sewing, knitting, crocheting and cooking. She previously spent a lot of time kayaking and hiking with Indy while living in Indiana.

Hamblin is already busy planning music programs for later in the school year. She said the music department will be putting on a dinner theater this winter and the grade school students will be performing a play. Hamblin took part in and enjoyed similar performances as a student at Ekalaka Public Schools.

"I'm enjoying being back so far," she said about living in her hometown again. "I feel that I fit in well and I already love the kids. There's something exceptional about all of them."