KORI BARKLEY
Staff Writer
“You learn most when you’re having fun.”
These are the words that David Holton, a Fredonia graduate of Fall 2013, lives by.
During his time at Fredonia, Holton transferred between applied music and composition majors and graduated with a performance degree. Though he was primarily a music major, he was also greatly interested in English and philosophy.
“Getting an artsy job is rough in today’s society,” Holton said.
He spent his summer after graduation interning at Boosey and Hawkes, a British classical music publisher. While he enjoyed the working there, he found it to be barely sufficient as a job.
Determined to live and work in a foreign country, Holton joined the Young Adult Service Corps (YASC) shortly after finishing his internship.
As part of the missionary society of the Episcopal Church, YASC sends young adults across borders for one year to serve beside other Anglicans. YASC volunteers have lived and served in Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Uruguay and Costa Rica, among other places.
Holton now volunteers in the Philippines on Luzon island, teaching English, theory, music and mathematics to the underprivileged; aiding women, children and container ship crews; and working on farms and promoting organic and sustainable farming techniques, all while spreading the Anglican word
.
Since he can remember, Holton has had wanderlust to live in a different country as a migrant.
“I always wanted to see the world, and thought that it would be more fun to do it as an expat than a tourist,” Holton explained. “YASC was a chance to live abroad, have a good job and gain some experience for jobs back home … [but] there’s part of me that really loves the expat life and wants to stay overseas forever, maybe teaching.”
Holton tries to channel his three biggest influences at Fredonia when teaching in the Philippines: former colleague Alec Dube for his positivity, musicology and music history professor Michael Markham for his enthusiasm while teaching and English professor Natalie Gerber for her intelligence and fusion of wit and intolerance for nonsense.
In the event that he does eventually return to the states, Holton plans to attend graduate school for music and possibly psychology or law.
Fredonia was a place where Holton felt he really grew into himself and became comfortable with his personality. His friends aided in this transformation.
“It’s amazing to meet so many people with all their own quirks and to live through so much trial and tribulation and good times together,” Holton said.
Some of his fondest memories with these friends included bonfires at the creek, late nights in Mason Hall complaining and goofing around with other music majors, and the moods that capture the entire campus, such as “the first warm days after winter when the grounds would be dotted by sunbathers and everyone would spend as much time as possible outside,” as he described it.
Holton advises future graduates something that Bernard Woma, master of the Ghanaian xylophone and director of the Saakumu Dance Troupe, once told him: “bad dancing never hurt the ground.”
In other words, despite skepticism, you can do anything with enough confidence, focus and hard work. Holton proves that possibilities are endless.