Meet BCM band member Keddy Mendoza
Abigail Dickerson, Staff Writer and Photographer
This is a story of turning new pages and performing on new stages. A young woman came to NGU as a freshman with a prayer of finding community and fellowship, but what she received was so much more.
Keddy Mendoza has a love for music, and the last thing she expected was to be offered a spot on stage during the first week of school.
After attending a freshmen orientation one Sunday, she was talking with Joshua Gilmore, the previous BCM director who encouraged her to go visit the BCM band out on the front steps of Hamlin. Gilmore had known her for years, since her brother had attended NGU as well and knew about her gift of music.
Taking his advice, Mendoza went outside to see the band singing on the steps when Gilmore shouted, “This girl can sing!” Nervously, she sat down and began to sing with them and didn’t look back.
After this encounter with the band, she ended up watching them perform at BCM the following week after mistakenly thinking it was required for students. They told her that she should audition for the band, and she accepted their invitation.
When Mendoza showed up for her audition, they talked for a while and she was offered an opportunity to sing with the band for the next Thursday meeting. Slightly shocked by it all, she agreed and became a member of the BCM band.
She wasn’t even a worship studies major, she just had a love for God and a passion for music. “I almost didn’t come to NGU,” said Mendoza. She talked about how she was afraid of following in her brother’s footsteps too closely, and explored many other universities first.
“I finally realized that NGU had the community that I needed,” she said. She didn’t expect that God would open so many doors for her in her first weeks of being a college student, and yet He did.
“He has continued to open doors for me since I’ve been here, and I’m so grateful,” she said. Since arriving here that fall, she has pursued a degree in social studies secondary education.
As well as an invitation to join the band, she received a call from the NGU admissions team asking her to be a work study with them. They had known about her work ethic and kind heart after spending time with her at scholars weekend and opened the job position to her.
“When I came to scholars weekend, a girl brought about 13 of us girls into her room and we all hung out and played games. That is when I realized this is the community that I had been looking for.” she said.
Now, Mendoza is finishing up her junior year at NGU and recently found out that she will be the band lead next semester. “It is crazy to think about,” she said. “I used to be the freshman of the group and looked up to the older students, and now I am one of them,” she said.
*Featured Image: Photo credit of NGU BCM instagram.
