{"id":1404,"date":"2026-03-27T08:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T08:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/03\/27\/2026-03-27-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:08:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:08:52","slug":"2026-03-27-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/03\/27\/2026-03-27-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Musical tribute honors GCC\u00a0legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Emily Fox<\/a> · Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Above,
Above, the touring choir performs at the college\u2019s 150th anniversary celebration in Pittsburgh. Right, senior Nora Russell sings a solo as the orchestra plays \u201cMake Our Garden Grow.\u201d Below, alumni take a photo with senior Andrew Hoover dressed as the iconic statue of Pew. \u2014 GCC<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Grovers past and present gathered to celebrate the college\u2019s 150th anniversary at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh last Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evening began with a reception where old friends reconnected and mingled with faculty members, recalling memories of their time at Grove City College. A musical tribute, performed by several college bands and ensembles, followed the reception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisa Adams Gordon \u201978, alumna and award-winning television news anchor, producer and reporter, welcomed attendees, and then President Lingo \u201900 began the event by delivering remarks about how the college\u2019s history has prepared it for a bright future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The college\u2019s wind ensemble opened the concert with \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner\u201d before performing three other selections, two of which continued the theme of honoring the spirit of the nation: \u201cAmerican Overture\u201d and \u201cAmericans We.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, the audience watched a video tribute to the college\u2019s history, highlighting its consistent values through the decades and its participation in national events, such as the world wars and its Supreme Court case in 1984, Grove City College v. Bell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The college\u2019s women\u2019s choir, the GCC Singers, performed the next three selections of the concert, beginning with \u201cBridge Over Troubled Water\u201d and ending with \u201cLet the River Run.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the performance, Willie the Wolverine stole the spotlight, and juniors Jesse Richardson and Zachary Kappel entertained the audience with a brief history of the college\u2019s mascot. Willie was not the college\u2019s first mascot, as Grove City was originally represented by a wolf. Once Willie entered the picture, SGA petitioned to preserve him as the college\u2019s mascot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richardson and Kappel emphasized that Willie\u2019s story speaks to the power of believing in something and making it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The touring choir took the stage next, performing \u201cLet Everything That Hath Breath\u201d with junior Sarah Altman accompanying the choir on the piano and junior Peter Hasse playing the bass. The choir sang two more selections before Music Department Chair Jeffrey Tedford spoke on behalf of the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tedford acknowledged that it was fitting for the college to celebrate its 150th anniversary as the country celebrates its 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGrove City College would not exist in most other countries,\u201d Tedford said, emphasizing that our nation protects the college values of faith and freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tedford then directed the Symphony Orchestra in Felix Mendelssohn\u2019s Symphony No. 5, \u201cReformation.\u201d The orchestra\u2019s second piece, \u201cMake Our Garden Grow,\u201d featured vocal performances by alumni, faculty and current students. College voice teacher Sasha Peastro-Tedford and senior Nora Russell were featured sopranos, college voice instructors Claire DeArmitt and Charles Dugan sang the mezzo-soprano and tenor voice parts and senior Liam Cummings sang baritone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chair of the Board of Trustees Edward Breen then spoke about how the college is \u201csmall-town USA at its finest\u201d and how all of us participate in the future of Grove City College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe future of Grove City doesn\u2019t belong to any one of us or a generation\u2014it belongs to all of us. \u2026 The best chapters of Grove City College are not behind us; they are just beginning,\u201d Breen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audience then watched a compilation of students, faculty and alumni wishing the college a \u201chappy birthday\u201d before the event closed by inviting the audience to join the combined ensembles in singing the college hymn, \u201cOur God, Our Help in Ages Past,\u201d and its alma mater, \u201c\u2019Mid the Pines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon gave final remarks, and the concert ended by tributing the U.S. one more time by singing \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Right,
Right, senior Nora Russell sings a solo as the orchestra plays \u201cMake Our Garden Grow.\u201d \u2014 GCC<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Below,
Below, alumni take a photo with senior Andrew Hoover dressed as the iconic statue of Pew. \u2014 GCC<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The ensembles came together at the end of the concert. \u2014 GCC<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grovers past and present gathered to celebrate the college\u2019s 150th anniversary at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh last Friday. The evening began with a reception where old friends reconnected and mingled with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[72,14,52],"class_list":["post-1404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","tag-emily-fox","tag-front-page","tag-issue-2026-03-27"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-27-02-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy-1.jpg",988,1280,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-27-02-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy-1.jpg",116,150,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-27-02-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy-1.jpg",232,300,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-27-02-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy-1.jpg",768,995,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-27-02-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy-1.jpg",790,1024,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-27-02-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy-1.jpg",988,1280,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-03-27-02-musical-tribute-honors-gcc-legacy-1.jpg",988,1280,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Grovers past and present gathered to celebrate the college\u2019s 150th anniversary at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh last Friday. The evening began with a reception where old friends reconnected and mingled with","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1680,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404\/revisions\/1680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}