Avocal performance major, who expects to graduate from
Lamar University in May 2009, Ramirez turns heads
with her strong soprano sound. The honors student from
Baytown is equally compelling when she pipes up about other
passions: service through LU’s Rotaract Club, her desire to
expand music education around the world and a love for the university
she looks forward to claiming proudly as her alma mater.
As she prepared this summer for her senior year of college,
Ramirez deepened her interest in several pursuits through travel.
She reveled in the opportunity to focus on improving her
performance skills when she secured a slot at the prestigious
OperaWorks in Los Angeles. During the two-week workshop for
emerging artists, Ramirez strengthened more than just her vocal
abilities. Classes included daily yoga sessions, improvisation,
expression through movement and acting.
Particularly helpful was a class on visualization. Five times,
Ramirez listened as an accompanist played a German piece, and
she imagined her own voice singing it perfectly. She focused on
the qualities she wanted her performance to capture. Then, she
kept her eyes closed as the accompanist played the piece a sixth
time, and she sang.
“I finished the piece, and I opened my eyes, and two people
were crying, and there was one guy with his jaw dropped saying,
‘That was absolutely beautiful,’ and people were saying they had
goose bumps. It was just very cool,” Ramirez said. “People there
were so encouraging.”
The workshop allowed Ramirez to work with other topnotch
young opera singers and learn from faculty members who
have enjoyed impressive performance careers. Perhaps most
importantly, though, the experience taught Ramirez to truly enjoy
singing again. “I really did come away from it with more confidence,”
Ramirez said. “I think over the years I’ve grown to work
so hard and worry so much about, ‘Is my soft palate lifted? Am I
breathing correctly?’ that I forgot to have fun with the music.”
Her study of music at Lamar began even before she enrolled
as a freshman. Ramirez first attended a Lamar choir camp as an
eighth-grader and has been building relationships with professors
and administrators on campus ever since. Those connections, particularly
in the music department, were part of what drew her to
Lamar as a student. Generous scholarships for music, academics
and honors also helped her make her college choice.
As a student, she spent a year as president of LU’s Rotaract,
which led her to Chunox, Belize, in July, less than two weeks
after she completed OperaWorks. It was Ramirez’s second trip to
the village in northern Belize where Rotaract offers scholarships
to pay for high school. She and her fellow travelers—incoming
president Laura Whitmire, incoming community service chair
Madison Bunde, advisor Teresa Simpson and retired LU professor
Donna Birdwell—got ideas for other ways to assist the village
and engaged in learning activities with the children.
“What we wanted to do was kind of instill an excitement for
continuing their education,” Ramirez said. “I don’t think that the
circumstances that you’re in means that you can’t achieve something
higher, especially if you have the vision.”
Her can-do attitude comes from her mother, who emigrated
from the Dominican Republic with her two daughters when
Josmery was 5. “My mom has always told me that if you show to
others that you’re committed and you’re dedicated and you’re
going to get the job done, then people are going to support you.
But I never thought that it would be to the extent that it has
been,” she said. After graduation, Ramirez will study music in
Spain, Argentina, New Zealand or Canada for a year through a
Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. Then she plans to complete a
graduate degree and pursue a career combining music education
and performance. “I’m pretty excited about the things that will
open up to me because of the experiences and opportunities that
I’ve had at Lamar."
