Music Education graduate turns adversity into inspiration

Kayode Gloster did not necessarily pursue music - as a performer or as a student - on his own. A teacher and a friend in high school each provided encouragement because they recognized that the music was already inside him. Now these many years later, he is graduating from the College of Performing Arts with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and a fervent desire to share that passion with others.

An admittedly shy young man, Gloster was nearing the end of his sophomore year at Overbrook Senior High School in his hometown of Pine Hill, New Jersey, when choir director Art McKenzie walked up to him and said "I think you can sing."

He had sung in church from the time he was 7 or 8, but it wasn’t common knowledge to people at school. Except for a friend who apparently said something to McKenzie.

"He came in and sang a perfect scale," recalled McKenzie, who immediately gave Gloster an application for New Jersey’s All-State Chorus (he was selected) and a spot in the Overtones Honors Choir.

"Ever since then, I was hooked," Gloster said.

There were challenges, of course. This kind of choral singing was new to him and he didn’t read music, but McKenzie marveled at the way Gloster would take a song home and know it the next day. Starting with a keyboard he got around age 8, Gloster eventually discovered he was able to learn music and play by ear.

Not every hurdle was that easy to overcome. Gloster’s mother suffered from Sickle Cell Anemia. And while he was "raised and surrounded by strong women," many of them faced health issues, too. That meant responsibilities outside of school.

McKenzie recommended auditioning to study at Rowan, which would keep him closer to home. Then the Overbrook choir performed as part of a program at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and the Rowan University Concert Choir happened to be there as well.

"I was in awe," he remembered. "I aspired to be part of that."

At Rowan, Gloster has travelled a diverse path filled with successes, achievements ...and setbacks. Being self-conscious and with no previous experience in the sport, he nonetheless joined the Table Tennis Club...and helped build it from 40 members to 100. He was inducted into the National Honor Society. He sang with the Concert Choir and the Statesmen men’s chorus (under the direction of McKenzie, who had retired from Overbrook and joined the Rowan faculty), where he thrived as a leader - and a choreographer - for the group. He was a Resident Assistant for 35 students in Rowan Boulevard. He also mentored incoming freshmen through the university’s Achieving the Dream Scholarship Program; roughly 10 students a year for three years.

"I was very shy as a child so I thought this was a good way to bring me out of my comfort zone," he explained.

All of that was tested, however, during his college years. Gloster’s mother died suddenly in 2015 at the age of 45. Within a three-year period, he also lost his father, his grandmother, and three aunts. Academic problems followed as he struggled in the aftermath.

"It was a difficult time," he said. "I wasn’t sure what I wanted."

Music and the Rowan community were instrumental in getting him back on track. The Choir performed at his mother’s funeral and provided support. McKenzie and Karen Brager, a lecturer in Public Speaking at the university, served as mentors throughout this period.

"They showed me I had a lot of love around me," he said. "I am so grateful for their patience and support."

He also turned to music as a way to express himself, writing "The Light," a song dedicated to his mother and included in a recital he gave in 2016.

Recently, Gloster was honored with the Dr. James M. Lynch, Jr. Courage in Adversity Award from Rowan, which commemorates the former Dean of Students and a 22-year-member of the Department of Educational Leadership faculty, and celebrates a student who has overcome extreme hardship to achieve educational success.

"Any courage I have is because I had examples in my family of people who fought and got back up every day," he said.

As a Music Education major, he is all about passing that inspiration on to a new generation.

This past semester included student teaching at Mary S. Shoemaker Elementary School in Woodstown, as well as teaching "virtually" at Woodstown High School. Pamela Barnes, Gloster’s supervisor for student teaching in the Department of Music praised his character and compassion throughout this challenging time.

"During the recent crisis, more than ever, Kayode has been consistently positive about whatever challenge is put before him," she noted.

For his part, Gloster says he fell in love with teaching at the elementary level. He knows that his own experiences, even the losses in his family or a lack of self-esteem as a child, inform what he does and can do as a teacher.

"What helps me is helping others, and seeing the smiles," he said.

The concept of giving back is reiterated frequently when Gloster talks about his life up until this point. With that in mind, he has a message to offer both current and future Rowan students.

"Yes, I know life isn't easy, but I know I'm going to make it through. I won't let life defeat me because my victory is coming soon. You can get through anything with love, support, persistence, determination, and courage."