Junior Madeline Kennedy is this week’s Artist, being involved in choir as well as competitive triathlon and swim.
Madeline Kennedy
Grade: 11th
Future college: Texas A&M, Queen’s University, or Liberty University
Future Job: Running a free school/orphanage in a 3rd world country
Years singing: Choir since grade 4
Inspiration: Kelly Clarkson
Favorite artist: Etta James
Wingspan: When and how did you discover your talent?
Kennedy: “I have always been infatuated with singing pretty much since I could talk so I’d say I’ve more worked on my ability for many years than having a talent.”
Wingspan: What got you into singing?
Kennedy: “I really started getting serious-as in I wanted to be a singer-about singing when I watched American Idol in elementary school and was obsessed with the idea that a normal person could change their world and make a living singing all the time.”
Wingspan: How has choir changed your life?
Kennedy: “I’ve been blessed with a community from it, some friends I’ve been in choir since fourth grade so I have gained some great friendships.”
Wingspan: How does your family support your singing?
Kennedy: “They come to all my concerts and help me practice.”
Wingspan: How do you handle mistakes during a performance?
Kennedy: “I try to handle it with total confidence, pretending it was supposed to happen the whole time. Freshman year, during our spring concert, I went up to the mic to sing a solo and waited up at front at the mic, waiting for our director to start playing the piano and t ended up not being my turn for a few more songs. But I walked back up to my place in stride, laughing it off with my friends.”
Wingspan: What is your favorite genre to sing?
Kennedy: “I love musicals.”
Wingspan: Do you plan on pursuing this as a career?
Kennedy: “No, it does not seem to be that dependable of a career.”
Wingspan: Have you ever thought about writing your own songs?
Kennedy: “I used to write songs to sing with my ukulele but I’m not super creative so it didn’t last long.”
Wingspan: When you aren’t singing, what are you doing?
Kennedy: “I am a competitive triathlete so training takes up most of my time but I am also on the swim team.”
Wingspan: Who motivates you the most?
Kennedy: “High school is the easiest as it gets, I might as well have fun and make the most of what I do while doing it.”
Shannon Glidwell
Playing since he was nine, Glidwell played two years of college golf at Texas Wesleyan.
A lifelong golf fanatic, girls’ varsity golf coach Shannon Glidwell has been a golf player for years and is now pursuing it both as a recreational sport and as a way to teach his students about the significance of golf.
“My grandfather taught me to play when I was nine, I learned on a little par three golf course in West Texas when I would go see my grandfather in the summer time,” Glidwell said. “He’d just take me to the course in the morning and I’d play all day and I loved it.”
Glidwell pursued golf as a team player in high school and in college before starting his career as a high school sports coach and teacher.
“It was one of the many sports I played,” Glidwell said. “I played on the high school golf team for all three years of high school and then I played two years of collegiate golf at Texas Wesleyan.”
While he is not a part of a competitive team at the moment, busy coaching a regional champion team and managing his school schedule, Glidwell still hopes to incorporate golf into his athletic agenda.
“I still try to play competitively, I just don’t play as well as much as I used to competitively,” Glidwell said. “I’m going to try to, now that I’m older, compete in senior events, so I’m just going to try them out and see if I fit in any.”
Glidwell believes golf is more than just a sport; it builds character as players learn to shape their skills and refine their hits.
“It teaches you a great deal about honesty, integrity, patience, it’s a very humbling game” Glidwell said. “It teaches you not to live and die with every single moment because your highest can’t be too high and your lowest can’t be too low. There are a lot of ebbs and flows in golf and you have to learn how to stay steady.”
As a coach focused on improving his players as they grow, Glidwell sees his students mature from the game and take away valuable life lessons from understanding their plays.
“My most favorite thing is seeing golfers become better people and become better golfers in the sense that they become more mindful,” Glidwell said. “I see kids become more tolerant and more patient.”
Glidwell is proud of how his students have developed as people and as athletes, believing that the strategies learned in golf and the life lessons that come out of competing positively shape student athletes in their every day lives.
“I enjoy watching all the kids in the golf team grow into young ladies and young men that are courteous and respectful,” Glidwell said. “They develop as strong young adults, they have manners and etiquette and they are courteous. The world needs more of that and golf teaches that.”