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GMC’s Corps of Cadets Glee Club performed Dec. 6 in front of 4,000 people at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta during the Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) annual conference.
SACSCOC is the body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states. According to a press release, GMC is a SACSCOC-accredited institution, which made it an honor to perform at the conference.
“I could not be more proud of our Cadet Glee Club to see them perform on the World Congress Center stage,” said the president of Georgia Military College, Lieutenant General William B.
Caldwell, IV, U.S. Army (Ret) in a press release.
“They put a tremendous amount of effort into their performance, and we could not be more proud of these future leaders in our nation’s military.”
The glee club has 45 total members with 24 who attended the conference. Students were chosen for the performance based on their attendance level at practice. With those 24, cadets Emily Faint, Brock Mattson, Thorin Bridges, Courtney Stocks and foreign exchange student from Taiwan Yun-Chen Wen performed solos.
Their entire performance was 30 minutes long with a total of six songs performed.
“We were invited to the conference for the first time this year,” said Moona Yu, GMC professor of music and musical performance coordinator. “Everyone who watched the performance were higher-education individuals. We presented our Winter Concert program and I was so proud of them.”
According to Yu, this was the glee club’s first public performance outside of Milledgeville.
This honor allowed them to highlight the music program that was started by former GMC president Major General Peter J.
Boylan in 2003 and the growth of the glee club itself.
“The Glee Club was established by General Caldwell in 2016 with six male cadets, and we added female cadets to the program in 2021.
Our singers do not have official training like they would in a music major or department, which makes their performance so much more impactful,” said Yu. “General Caldwell believes that music is a great tool to impact our cadets and it has been. They showed hard work and dedication to the audience at the conference.”
The glee club returned to Milledgeville and on Dec. 8 performed their winter concert to the public. The concert was a major success, like the conference.
“I was so proud of my students. They showed everyone what GMC stands for – ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ and ‘Character Above All,’” said Yu. “I hope this opportunity meant something special for each of my singers.”