After 12 years, music student finds her voice…and her path

Sophomore music education student Cherita Robinson, 32, hopes to study classical music and opera after graduating from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Robinson, a member of the Coastal Vibrations at the Jefferson Davis Campus, dreamed of attending college for 12 years before it became a reality two years ago. At the age of 18, she was set to attend The Juilliard School in New York City, but circumstances prevented her from attending college at that time. Now, she is preparing for vocal tryouts at two prestigious universities.

Seeing a performance of “La Traviata,” the opera by Giuseppe Verdi, convinced Cherita Robinson that she was not doing enough with her voice. Twelve years before, she had been set to attend The Juilliard School in New York City on a half-tuition scholarship. Suddenly, she was 29, married with three children and had done nothing significant with her talent.

“I had gone to the opera with my sister in Pittsburgh. I was just moved to tears during the performance. I realized how much time I had wasted,” she said. “When I got home, I told my husband that I had to go to college. He agreed and has supported me in that decision.”

She was living in Virginia at the time, but before she could even get started in school, her husband, Jerry, who is in the Navy, was transferred to a base in Gulfport. “I had never even heard of Gulfport and didn’t know what to expect. The move has been the best thing that could happen to me. I ended up in school at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, where I met Dr. David Knowles and Dr. Barbara Smith in the music department at the Jefferson Davis Campus. They have been like a father and a mother to me. They’re mentors and sometimes infuriating task masters who have pushed me and driven me to do more and more with my music.”

This week, Robinson, a sophomore music education major, has two tryouts for university music departments – Loyola University in New Orleans and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Her husband is retiring this fall and has offered to follow her to either city so she can continue her college education. “I am nervous about both, but the tryout at Duquesne is more demanding. Knowing that I have the support of my husband, stepson and my three children (Summer, Kairi and Rudy) makes it easier. My mother’s side of the family lives in Pittsburgh, so that would be a great place to end up. Either way, though, I am just happy to be continuing my education.”

As for the long, circuitous route she took to arrive at this point, Robinson is remarkably unperturbed. “I took the wrong path and had to deal with the consequences. God had to take me through a lot, which has made me smarter and more determined, but He brought me back to the right path. I am just glad that I have had this second chance.”