Meet Senior Comm Major John Goreham!
By Gabby Grondalski & Grace Keller
John Goreham is one of the many graduating Communication students at UMass. During his first semester, he was pursuing a Legal Studies degree. Very quickly, he discovered that he wanted to change his course of education, while also staying in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. After taking some introductory Communication courses, John found the topics discussed in the classes interesting and decided to pursue the Communication major his Sophomore year.
While looking at universities to attend after graduating high school, John found himself applying to UMass for a multitude of reasons. One major reason was due to constantly hearing some of his high school music educators, who are alumni, praising the University. “I knew a lot of alumni, especially those who were graduates of the music department. They only could say good things, especially about the band. At the time I wasn’t really sure what major I wanted to pursue, and I knew UMass had so many options as well as a band. I found that UMass was the university for me.”
Outside of his classes, John’s time has been dedicated to music both on and off-campus. During his 4 years at UMass, he has been a part of the UMass Minuteman Marching Band, most commonly referred to as the UMMB. He is a part of the drumline, which is well known throughout Massachusetts and across the United States for their performances and work ethic. This year, John was selected to be section leader of the drumline and he has found it to be a rewarding experience. “Being the section leader of the UMass drumline is a huge accomplishment for me, probably my biggest one since being at UMass. The band has meant so much to me the past four years, and looking on as a high schooler I never thought I could push myself to the limit of becoming a section leader.”
During the summer, John has also been a member of a few groups that are a part of an outside music organization known as Drum Corps International, or DCI. “Drum corps is essentially a competitive touring marching band. They travel around the country and perform at venues for large groups of individuals. It is essentially the largest team sport I can think of, as there can be up to 150 individuals working together to put on a precise performance.” Over the past few years, John has been a part of two competition classes under DCI; Open Class and World Class. In Open Class, John marched with Spartans for 2 years, which is located in Nashua, New Hampshire. Then in 2019, he joined The Cadets, which is a World Class Corps located in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Though his participation in these organizations did not provide him with the availability to take on an internship, John is very thankful for the experiences he had during his time with these groups. “The biggest thing I learned from drum corps is how to be a team player. You learn how to work with so many different individuals. I think in a job setting I will be able to transfer those skills, especially since these experiences taught me how to become the best team player you can be.”
One of John’s favorite classes from his time at UMass was Nonverbal Communication, as he was fascinated by all of the topics around communication that individuals don’t really consider. John was taking the course as the pandemic hit, and also found the transition to the virtual setting interesting as many of the topics they discussed, in a way, relied so much on being in-person. With senior year looking much different than he expected, he is very thankful that he has been able to complete his degree on time as well as experience an in-person class this semester. A personal accomplishment John has achieved during these past few semesters has been maintaining his standing on the Dean’s list. “It’s very important to me that I was able to stay on the Dean’s list as we moved virtually. It was something I was worried about, but I was able to maintain that status and I am very proud of that.” Upon graduating, John is hoping to gain some experience in the realm of media or advertising. “Some of the upper-level courses I have taken over the past few years have been extremely eye-opening and interesting. There are so many ways the media can influence the way we look at things.”
One tip John would like to pass along to students is to check out the band! “I think students with any type of interest in music should check out the marching band. No matter where you are music-wise, you will meet so many individuals and have so much support.”