After 12 years of teaching, six at Rice University's Shepherd School and six at DePaul University, I find the following thoughts quite helpful for prospective students:

1. Sing your best prepared and most comfortable song first. You never know if you will be asked for another. It should be something appropriate for your age. This tends to eliminate opera arias for freshman auditions.

2. Be sure you have rehearsed your piece with piano before your audition. Many times students make the mistake of learning a song without ever hearing the accompaniment. Once they arrive at the audition they get lost while singing.

3. Sing from your heart. Most schools are looking for a natural emotional connection as well as a good strong voice. We see through "staged" presentations. Remember that we all sing to express and thus need to communicate. The young singers who do this are always amazing and stand out. It is hard to teach someone how to emote true feelings while singing.

4. If you are singing in a foreign language you better well know how to pronounce it and what it means.

5. The people listening might not talk much or seem very welcoming. Do not let this affect you. They all want you to do well.

What should you look for in a school?

Some schools are more nurturing than others. Not every school or teacher is right for everyone but the voice teacher and you will have a four-year relationship so choose carefully. I feel it is also important to choose a liberal arts education by attending a university or college for undergrad and then a conservatory or professional school for your advanced degree. There is so much to be learned in a four-year college campus experience. Many people sadly poo poo liberal arts these days but one learns from just being in the environment and meeting new people. College years are a gift of time to mature, explore and narrow one's focus.

Music is not well-learned out of context. It is important to know historical periods, foreign languages and literature. Many operas and songs are set to words from great literature, mythology, and more. It is important to understand what was happening at the time a piece was written and about the lives of the poets and librettists.

Grad schools also vary but normally a singer will choose to do intensive study with a particular voice teacher over the actual program of study. However, some may prefer to have more chances to perform so a school that has many performance opportunities is also a good choice. There is nothing like learning on one's feet.

Bottom line, a singer needs to invest in their vocal technique if they want to succeed. I transferred to Juilliard after two years at a liberal arts college. I often regret this as I lost out on the complete college experience. At that time there were no dorms. It was a hard life surviving in Manhattan, working three jobs and attending school full-time. I think I was too intimidated to learn. However, the irony is that my Juilliard degrees (I also completed my Master degree there) did give me a foot in the door when I wanted to start teaching. The degrees and my singing career were deemed equivalent to an advanced degree.

I love teaching. It is so satisfying when a student "gets it." My job is not to berate or beat down but to believe in and give a student the skills to eventually survive without me. My own technical challenges and singing career has helped me as a teacher. As a performer, I am more empathetic than some who teach theoretically. There are so many levels to singing and performing, conscious and unconscious and emotional. There is not just one way to sing. It is a joy to share what I have been fortunate enough to learn through experience.

You are in. Now what?

Once accepted to a school, it is a major eye-opener to realize that the major you picked is so hard and time consuming. In high school, music is pure fun with not much at stake. It is a different ballgame when it comes to college when there is a risk of being put on academic probation and even losing scholarship money or being dismissed.

Most music majors generally must take or pass out of music theory, aural training, piano skills, music history and more. Vocalists have to take foreign languages, vocal diction (Italian, French, English and German), song and opera repertoire (from a 400 year period), opera workshop (acting, movement, presentation etc) as well as all the other required core courses in the university. It is a requirement to sing in large ensemble (choir) and to be willing to participate in opera productions.

Additionally, singers and instrumentalists need to have time to practice, just as an athlete works out. One's mind needs to be very calm and focused to do this so that there is no accidental injury. Overuse or wrong technique can cause many problems.

It is the core music curriculum that really can kick one's proverbial butt. Learning to read music is like learning a foreign language. For many it does not come easy and takes repetitive drilling. Each semester gets more advanced. Music students need to hear a piece of music written over the past 500 years and identify the composer and the time period and style. They need to hear music and notate what they are hearing onto sheet music.

Moreover, singers cannot put a finger on a pitch so they have to learn how to hear differently from instrumentalists. Rhythm is another hurdle. Sure everyone can pretty much keep a beat but to actually obey what a composer wants is another thing. Correcting miss-learned pitches and rhythms can be brutal. (I was horrible at rhythm and still have to be meticulous when I learn a new piece. One Juilliard coach had a picture of the Count from Sesame Street on the wall to remind us.)

At the end of each semester the students need to perform a jury from memory for the faculty, correct in style, phrasing, and expression. As a junior and senior they normally are required to give a recital which is normally 45-60 minutes of music with piano or other instruments, also from memory. The singer programs this him/herself. This requires hours of research and then writing program notes an translations.

Yes, I could go on. Majoring in music entails major multitasking and focus and a particular skill set. Those who think it is easy are misguided as those who think we never landed on the moon.

Good luck to all and sing from the heart!

Overwhelmed with emotion, I thought these memories were a product of homesickness. Yet as I listened intently to the music in the library, a temple of knowledge, I realized it was something deeper. It was a clamor of my consciousness reminding me of my roots as a Chicagüense, of my experience growing up as a Mexican-American in Chicago. It is a call questioning how my Méxicanidad translates to being part of this new generation of educated Latina/os. Our generation calls for the creation of American Latino cultural capital. Yet how do we cultivate pride in our rich, vibrant, and multi-faceted Latino heritage and ensure its preservation when we are told to acculturate? More importantly, how do we teach and pass on a culture to future generations that is so heavily based on language and struggle?

Though I don't have many answers at the moment, I believe that it starts with the (re)claiming of one's raíces. We must not forget the rich cultural patrimony our parents share with us. I refer to cultural patrimony not as physical artifacts specifically, but as rich traditions, music, and language - smelling abuela's tamales at Christmas, learning how to dance Duranguense in our small kitchen, listening to the chisme of my Tias over coffee, and much more.

As college exposes us to exciting experiences and introduces us to new people, we must not forget our origins as we write our futures. Our diplomas will open doors and take us to places unimaginable; however we must not let them erase our past. It is now more important than ever that we remain cognizant of our raíces as we establish ourselves as the next generation of Latino leaders in the arts, sciences, and the humanities.

Our Latinidad is not a hindrance; it enriches our perspectives and facilitates our navigation through multiple spaces. Our family names embossed on our diplomas are testimony that "Educated Latino" is not an oxymoron. However, we must ensure that we pass down more than just our family name. We must incorporate the histories of our parents and our abuelos as we create our own. We must create culture in order to preserve it.

Our cultura will not die out.

With our degrees, we will work with our minds and not with our backs. However, our parents' work ethic remains ingrained within our consciousness as the sweat of their brow, a labor of love, paid for such a luxury. We are thus entrusted with the preservation and cultivation of those traditions they bestowed unto us. We must fight cultural amnesia. We must not forget.

In the meantime, I will write.

"I write to remember.
I make rite (ceremony) to remember.
It is my right to remember." [1]

[1] Cherríe Moraga, A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness (Durham: Duke University Press, 2011), 81.

Whenever I see these kinds of questionable hires at colleges and universities, I ask myself one question: "If someone is unethical and mismanages the finances at one institution, why wouldn't they do it at another institution?" Seems to me that people repeat both good and bad behavior -- especially when bad behavior is not acknowledged and confronted.

HBCUs need the best leadership possible in a climate that calls them into question almost daily. And boards need to hire the very best individuals to lead HBCUs rather than recycling mediocre presidents with questionable pasts. There are quite a few individuals interested in serving in the role of president at HBCUs who are being overlooked for a variety of reasons. Some overlooked candidates did not attend an HBCU and instead were educated at majority institutions. However, there are great examples of HBCU presidents who were educated at majority institutions. For example, Beverly Daniel Tatum at Spelman College. She attended Wesleyan, Bates, and Michigan but has provided excellent leadership at Spelman.

Second, some overlooked candidates may have attended an HBCU as an undergraduate, but they have not worked extensively within the environment since they graduated. Instead they have worked within majority institutions. Here again there are good examples. Charlie Nelms, the chancellor of North Carolina Central University is a case in point. He attended the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff as an undergraduate (and taught there briefly) but his administrative experience was gained at majority institutions.

In several recent HBCU presidential searches, there were candidates that had substantial higher education experience, but were overlooked because they 'were not familiar with the HBCU environment' or the board of trustees wanted to go with someone who 'had already been a president.' There are risks involved in taking chances on the unknown, but perhaps risk is what is needed to turn around some of the struggling HBCUs. How are HBCUs missing out by overlooking good candidates? What new ideas could these candidates bring to the HBCU environment? Yes, there are unique challenges within the HBCU setting given our nation's history, but candidates with a sincere interest, extensive higher education experience, and energy could provide substantial leadership for HBCUs.

There are also individuals who are eager to become HBCU presidents and are hoping to be mentored by current presidents. They are young, dedicated, innovative and data-driven in their approach to leadership. These individuals typically attended HBCUs but have been pursuing degrees related to higher education at majority institutions. They are gaining an intellectual understanding of HBCUs as well as substantial higher education administration experience. Although their experience is typically within the majority institutional setting, they have a commitment to giving back to their HBCU alma mater through leadership.

Many college and university presidents lead several institutions and do it successfully -- both in the majority and HBCU environments. However, when these presidents are not successful or worse yet, when they mismanage institutions and abuse power, why do boards of trustees hire them again? Strong, innovative leadership is absolutely essential at HBCUs. Reconsidering where leaders come from and cultivating new leadership is necessary and vital to the future of these historic institutions. Recycled leaders are beneficial when they are strong visionaries. When they are not, colleges and universities suffer.

On Jan. 20, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services announced an exemption for religious hospitals, nonprofit organizations and faith-based universities, in their decision to require health insurance plans to cover preventative care. After discussions with faith-based organizations, the administration has decided to give them an extra year to find a way to comply with a ruling that would ensure that women have access to contraception and other preventive care with no out-of-pocket cost, thus striking a balance between the needs of women and a respect for religious communities.

Mitt Romney has been telling us that he has never supported women's health coverage (unless you count all the times he did). While Mitt Romney is trying to figure out what he believes, President Obama has made incredible strides in terms of women's health. He has made insurance companies stop discriminating based on gender, made sure that women can access mammograms and other preventative services at no cost, and is standing against Washington Republicans who want to roll back women's rights and access to the health care they need.

Once again, the Democratic Party and the Obama administration have shown that when people of faith speak, they listen. For far too long, insurance companies have refused to cover the health needs of the most vulnerable and charged unfair premiums, as if being female were a preexisting condition. The desire to see fair health coverage is a common goal of both the Democratic Party and people of faith -- a goal that was accomplished when we worked together.

But there is another girl, also 17 years old, who was unable to continue school after the age of 12. She was married off and pregnant by age 15, dependent on her abusive husband. When she decided to leave him, she was unable to get a job due to her lack of an education. Therefore, she cannot afford to send her own children to school. She must sell her body to pay for food, exposing herself to countless diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

But we can change this picture for the 515 million girls in the developing world.

Educating girls is the most powerful investment anyone can make. The statistics are staggering. 1 in 4 girls in the developing world is not in school. But a girl with an education marries four years later and marries with choice. She has 2 fewer children, and is three times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS, meaning her children won't suffer from the disease either. There is a direct relationship between the education of a mother and the health of her children. An education raises her salary by 25%, and she reinvests 90% of that back into her family, breaking the cycle of poverty. As Secretary Hilary Clinton said, educating girls is not only the right thing to do; it's the smart thing.

If 70% of the world's uneducated children are girls, why does less than 2 percent of every development dollar go towards our gender? Why is there still a stigma surrounding "feminism"?

The more I learn about this issue, the more my passion grows. Though the problem is huge, there are numerous opportunities for girls my age to make a real, tangible difference for the world. And as high school girls, our power is even stronger. We can help empower and educate our own generation, creating leaders for today and tomorrow.

I recently became a Teen Advisor for Girl Up, an initiative launched by the United Nations Foundation. We aim at engaging and raising awareness among hundreds of thousands of girls in America about the challenges that girls in developing countries face. I hope you will join me in learning from and supporting our peers across the world by joining our movement, giving a "high five," or attending a "Unite for Girls" rally in your area.

We can help change the futures of over 500 million girls. Educating a girl will immediately affect her life, soon her community, and eventually our world.

"Invest in a girl, and she'll do the rest." -The Girl Effect