Emily Temwa Jenda.
17.
5'7".
likes long walks on the beach.
Okay, maybe I should elaborate...
I was born in Lexington, Kentucky on November 9, 1987, and raised in Auburn, Alabama, land of all things football, so I guess that makes me a "Southern girl." My parents are from the tiny country of Malawi in Southeastern Africa, and my brother was born in Botswana. I am actually the first person in my ENTIRE family to have been born in the United States, which at least I think is cool. I'm a senior at Auburn High, and I'm your typical teenager. I Iove football games, indulge in tabloid magazines, and blast really bad hip-hop in my SUV, despite constant warnings that it will ruin my hearing.
I'm active in several clubs and activities at Auburn High School. I've been a class officer for three years, and I love representing the class of 2006. I helped organize the 2005 Junior-Senior Prom, and if you ask me, it was amazing!
I'm President of the Spanish Club, Co-Vice President of the Spanish Honor Society, and current Vice President of the high school's choral company. I'm also an active member of the Student Council, Key Club, Government Club, Multicultural Club, Tiger Ambassadors, Mu Alpha Theta, English Honor Society, and National Honor Society. Outside of Auburn High, I also volunteer at the East Alabama Medical Center and participate in the St. Michael's Catholic Youth Group.
Music is a major force in my life. I'm a show choir NERD,
and I've been taking hip-hop dance classes for five years.
It's no surprise, then, that the summer before my senior year, I decided to travel hundreds of miles away from home to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to participate in the Telluride Association Summer Program and study "Music of the Everyday:
Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Popular Music in the United States, 1880-Present" under the direction of Professors Mark Clague and Derek Vaillant. The seminar asks for an in-depth analysis of the conditions of the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present and how those conditions spurred the evolution of American music from jazz to hip-hop.
Our research within the seminar has asked us to take an active role in the Ann Arbor community. The eighteen of us have attended various festivals and shows, including Ann Arbor's annual "Top of the Park" festival and Art Fair. Currently, each of us is individually researching an aspect of music in Ann Arbor and working on a ten-page analysis of our findings.
The "TASP" experience has been one of the most incredible of my entire life. I've learned more about myself and the world in the past six weeks than I ever imagined possible. The friendships that I've formed are some that I'm sure will last for years.
Feel free to contact me at my e-mail address: ejsing55@hotmail.com