Living His Life for Music and Those in Need<\/strong><\/p>\nAs a boy in Los Angeles County, Joseph Hill sometimes accompanied his adopted mother, a nurse, to places where the homeless gathered. \u201cWe\u2019d give out sandwiches and clothes in the park or Taco Bell parking lots at midnight,\u201d recalls Hill, whose parents stressed the importance of civic engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could have been an orphan moving in and out of foster homes but instead I was adopted,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I feel like my own life is a civic engagement project!\u201d<\/p>\n
An opera singer who expects to graduate this spring with dual degrees in Classical Performing Arts and Business Management of Performing Arts, Hill is committed to music and helping others.<\/p>\n
Both were part of his life from his earliest years. When Hill\u2019s mother became more deeply involved with her church ministry, he volunteered as an usher and began to sing in its youth choir. He also joined choirs in middle school and high school, focusing on classical music as a teen. At the same time, he was active circulating petitions and organizing events for causes he believed in<\/p>\n
Soon after coming East with his older sister and adopted brother James to attend community college in Connecticut, Hill faced a crisis: his father passed away unexpectedly and his mother was hospitalized. At age 18, he assumed co-guardianship of his eight-year-old brother, who suffered from ADHD.\u00a0 \u201cIt was a rough patch, but I had the capacity to advocate for James,\u201d says Hill, who began to home-school his brother, now a high school student in Queens. To provide financial support, Hill worked two part-time jobs–one as cashier and overnight stocker at Walmart. \u201cMy faith carried me through,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
After earning his associate\u2019s degree, Hill enrolled in Queens College\u2019s Aaron Copland School of Music, knowing it would provide him with an affordable, conservatory-type education. \u201cThe experience has changed my life,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel I have a responsibility to nurture and share my gifts, and QC has been the vehicle to allow me to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
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As a Lead Ambassador for the Andrew Goodman Foundation–named after the murdered QC student and civil rights worker–Hill is dedicated to bringing voting awareness to campus. His previous volunteer work with Organizing for America to mobilize the youth vote was valuable experience for the Ambassador role.<\/p>\n
Collaborating with the RISE Foundation last fall, he accompanied Martin Luther King III to register the Brooklyn Nets team to vote. \u201cIt was thrilling,\u201d says Hill, who has also sung at Foundation fundraising events and addressed guests about his life at QC. \u201cWe owe so much to the Andrew Goodman legacy, and I hope that QC will become known nationally as a very civic-engaged school,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Hill also has distributed food and toiletries to the homeless during Midnight Runs organized by QC clubs and other organizations. And since 2016, he has performed monthly with other members of the volunteer nonprofit Sing for Hope, visiting hospitals, children\u2019s health facilities, and other sites throughout New York City.<\/p>\n
In his CUNY Service Corps assignment, Hill helps recruit high school students for the College Now program, applying theatre techniques to address students\u2019 fears or perceived obstacles to attending college.<\/p>\n
Recognizing that he would need his own support system for college, Hill is active in Project ExCEL. \u201cJorge Alguera, the director, has created a family environment,\u201d he says. Part of the CUNY Black Male Initiative, Project ExCEL is designed to provide support, encouragement, and guidance to QC students. \u201cI\u2019m both a peer mentor in subjects such as music and theatre, and also a mentee,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
It was only last year when Hill declared his majors that he clearly envisioned his future path. \u201cI realized my true destiny is to be an artist and also to change the way that artists view business. Artists have a responsibility to be business-savvy and financially astute,\u201d he says. \u201cThat should be part of our craft.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hill, an honors student and recipient of the Tashlik Family Scholarship, plans to apply to the doctoral program in Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, which, he says, will allow him to deepen his knowledge and skills in music and arts administration. \u201cI want a say in what happens in the industry,\u201d he declares. In the meantime, this talented tenor will focus on acquiring more performing experience: he will sing at QC in\u00a0The Marriage of Figaro<\/em>\u00a0April 26\u201329; with the QC Vocal Ensemble, which specializes in a cappela music, on May 3; and in the Choral Society\u2019s Annual Spring Concert May 19.<\/p>\n\u201cMany human angels have come into my path,\u201d says Hill, who names Jennifer Jarvis, Student Affairs; Maureen Pierce-Anyan, College Counseling and Resource Center; Emanuel Avila, Student Union; Cecilia Britez, CUNY Service Corps; Professor Claudia Feldstein (Drama, Theatre, and Dance); and the Financial Aid staff. \u201cThey\u2019ve all believed in me and I can\u2019t let them down,\u201d says Hill, who lives in the Bronx and takes two trains and a bus to campus.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t care about my long commute or getting too little sleep,\u201d he says. \u201cI believe we should never limit ourselves. We have only this one life.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Name: Joseph HillMajor: Classical Performing Arts; Business Management of Performing Arts. CUNY BA for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies Year: Spring 2018From: Los Angeles County “I realized my true destiny is to be an artist and also to change the way that artists view business. Artists have a responsibility to be business-savvy and financially astute.”- Joseph […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"page_category":[],"wf_page_folders":[137],"class_list":["post-794","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2008,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/794\/revisions\/2008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"page_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page_category?post=794"},{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}