Former homeschooler heads to Washington University to work on PHD

Posted 6/2/22

A life-long resident of Okeechobee, Christina Smiley will soon be heading off to Washington University to work on her PHD.

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Former homeschooler heads to Washington University to work on PHD

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OKEECHOBEE —A life-long resident of Okeechobee, Christina Smiley will soon be heading off to Washington University to work on her PHD.  Smiley was homeschooled by her mother Jeanna and was involved in local homeschool groups. The only girl in a family of six children, Smiley has always loved music and started out singing in church with her brothers as a very young child.

She went to Indian River State College and obtained her Associates Degree with a focus in music. Her school journey was somewhat unique.

After doing an apprenticeship with the Palm Beach Opera, Smiley thought she might like to be an opera singer, but by the time she decided she wanted to go to college, it was just about too late. She thought she probably did not have the money to go to college, but her mom had a surprise up her sleeve. Unbeknownst to Smiley, her mother arranged an audition at IRSC, and she ended up receiving a full scholarship which paid for everything.

Smiley sings opera

On a whim, she applied to the University of Miami. “I didn’t think I could get in there, but a choir director I worked for a lot encouraged me to apply and audition. I ended up getting in for classical vocal performance.”

Things took an unexpected turn again when Smiley had what she called a crisis. “I said wait! I don’t think I want to be an opera singer. The career trajectory is very unstable.” She said she did not want to complete school, and then have to worry about how to make money. “The starving artist lifestyle is not quite for me.”

Although she changed course midstream, she did make a commitment to herself to always keep singing, and so far, she has.

She switched over to communications studies with a music business minor. “We had requirements called cognates, so mine was Music Understanding and Performance. Through that, I was able to stay connected with the music school and be involved without being a music major.”

Initially, her goal was to use her communications degree to do something in the back end of performance, arts administration or something similar.

This changed though when, through her cognate, she had to take some musicology courses. “I loved, loved, loved them!” She had a good relationship with some of her professors and was able to speak to them about their research. She also had a friend who was a graduate student in the musicology department who encouraged her to look into it a little more.

After a conversation with a professor, Dr. Butler, he told her communication and musicology were not really very different from each other, with the main difference being that musicology always focuses on music, and communications studies COULD focus on music but doesn’t always. “I thought, you know. That’s true!”

She began looking into programs, not knowing how it would turn out, because a lot of programs require you to be a music undergraduate or want you to have a master’s degree. She applied to two masters’ programs and four PHD programs.

She was accepted at the University of Miami, University of Chicago and Washington University.  She chose to commit to Washington University. “It’s a really great school. It’s actually number 14 in the country,” she said. “They are giving me a full ride, a stipend, the works.” She will be pursuing her PHD in musicology in the fall.

“I started off at IRSC thinking I wasn’t even smart enough for college at all. I think because I was homeschooled, I didn't know if I matched up to what they did in public school. In hindsight, I realize I was more than prepared."  Other than with math, which she had always struggled with, she had no trouble with her college courses. "Not that it was a breeze, but I felt that my home education  definitely prepared me."

Graduating from IRSC with honors, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and very involved in the performing arts department, Smiley still struggled with insecurity when entering UM.  "I had like this imposter syndrome all over again thinking I did well at IRSC, but how am I going to do at this private institution?" Despite those fears, she made it through and graduated with honors again. "Now, I feel like it's a reset again! I'm trying not to have imposter syndrome. I know it's going to be a lot of work, but I'm excited."

She graduated on May 13 from UM and will be heading to Washington  U the beginning of August. She will be there for five to six years depending on how long it takes to finish her dissertation. Her funding is for six years which gives her a little flexibility.

Smiley said her dream job would be to become a professor and a researcher on a tenure track, but she is also interested in forensic musicology. "This is basically where you are hired as a musicologist to consult on  copyright infringement cases," she explained. Her dream would be to do both. She is also considering getting a masters degree in law to assist her with this. Ideally, she thinks she would like to live in California, but is hesitant due to the cost of living there. "We'll just have to wait and see," she said.

Though Smiley loves opera, she also enjoys singing faith-based songs as demonstrated in this link.  Smiley

Christina Smiley, Christian Home Educators of Okeechobee, IRSC, FAU, Cornerstone Christian Home Educators

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