Katie

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Katie Derstine

Like the rest of Shekinah's members, I've been singing for as long as I've been able to talk. Over the past 25 years, my love for singing has allowed me to perform for many audiences as a member of the Christopher Dock Touring Choir and Eastern Mennonite University's Chamber Singers, to travel internationally with each of those choirs, to participate in many services of worship, to learn and appreciate many new styles of music, and to continue to learn about and appreciate the rich tradition of Mennonite singing that is my own background. It also fueled my interest in developing a choir of women's voices, and this interest became a reality in the fall of 2003 when I worked with several other women to form Shekinah. For three years I was involved closely with every aspect of Shekinah management and, after taking a year-long 'sabbatical', I have re-joined the group and I'm looking forward to some more excellent music-making!

When I'm not singing, I enjoy reading, cooking, adding interesting movies to my Netflix queue (and watching them, of course!), spending time laughing with friends, hymn sings and potlucks, road trips, taking pictures, and looking forward to the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale. I attend The Table (http://www.thetablefellowship.net/), an emerging Mennonite church in Harrisonburg, and have thoroughly enjoyed being involved in various ways as this new congregation has taken shape over the past few months. July 2007 marked the beginning of my third year working in the Registrar's Office at EMU, which has been a challenging but very enjoyable post-college work environment. An added bonus is that it has allowed me to prolong my time as a member of Chamber Singers, a musical outlet that was especially helpful during my time off from Shekinah!

All of those interests and more add up to what I consider to be a pretty nice life, here in the lovely Shenandoah Valley, and I'm very happy that Shekinah will once more be added to the mix!