Grace Notes Reunion!

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Fifteen years ago, a student-run Christian a capella group of 16...plus or minus one...or two... :) was started at PSU called Grace Notes. Since then, they have welcomed over 125 members, sung in hundreds of concerts and church services (and subways in at least several U.S. cities) and seen 6 marriages emerge -- Chad's and mine being one of them! It's so fun to actually remember the first time I ever laid eyes on him as he auditioned for the group...and our relationship grew very much in the midst of singing (and then serving as President and Pitch as two-thirds of "The Triumvirate") together in that group!

This weekend was the Grace Notes 15-Year Reunion, and it culminated with a luncheon today at the Days Inn. It was great to see several old friends and have a chance to catch up. I grabbed some photo ops with a few...

Jeff Patrizio, GN President when both Chad and I joined the group

Christina (Chong) Gieske (pregnant! Due in mid-January)
and Stacey (Hubbell) Milunic (and one of her two children, Anastasia) --
two of the stalwart altos during our time in the group!

The different eras also put on a concert with various selections, including several all-group numbers that were fun to hear...



Part of the reunion was a slideshow made up of fondest GN memories we all sent in. Here's what we came up with...

From Kate:
Well, it's impossible to pick just one! A few stand-outs: My (now) husband's initial GN audition where I said I thought he was a "hoodlum", yet voted him into the group anyway (glad I did!); "We Three Kings...funkdefied" in the King of Prussia Mall; singing in the awesome acoustics of the stairwell of the music building; the "O how I love to sing...to God" warm-up; the "Operator/Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" skit my last concert; Grace Notes friends surprising us at our wedding reception with singing "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" to send us off

From Chad:
My favorite Grace Notes memories include my first performance with the group in the basement of the HUB, our first performance of "Operator" at the Synergy talent show which elicited an immediate and enthusiastic standing ovation, singing "Sweet Chariot" in front of Beaver Stadium before a football game, singing "Home Run" while watching various baseball/softball games as we walked through Central Park in NYC (during our "Grace Notes Take Manhattan" weekend trip), singing Christmas carols at the King of Prussia mall to draw interest to the Salvation Army collection jar, our amazing spring break tour through Maryland, D.C., and Virginia, fall retreats at Black Moshannon State Park, semester ending dinners at Ponderosa, singing at the BJC with fellow Grace Noters for the "Child of the Promise" tour along with Steven Curtis Chapman and Twila Paris, and countless hours of rehearsal time in Music Building II. But my fondest memory of the Grace Notes was attending the concert the semester after I left the group, listening to the glorious sounds of the Grace Notes as they praised God (seriously, their rendition of "O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" with Kevin Spizarny singing the solo was truly goose-bump inducing), and thinking that I probably wouldn't make the cut if I tried out for the group again. (Meeting my future wife in the group worked out pretty well for me, too!!)


We are SO very grateful that God led both of us to that group. Grace Notes (with Calvary as a close second) was the singlemost formative part of our college careers -- spiritually, emotionally...and life-ly! Not only did we gain several close friends...but we landed a marriage! Not too shabby for a student-run group, covered in fingerprints of God's incredible grace throughout the years...

Hope to see even more of you Grace Noters out there at the 20th! :)
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