Morgan MacNeil-Berry is a senior at Abington High School. She has been involved with school musicals such as The Addams Family and High School Musical, is a student at On Stage School of Performing Arts in Whitman, and performs the National Anthem at Abington sporting events. This summer she attended a program called the Vocal Summit at one of her top schools, Berklee College of Music. In this program MacNeil-Berry learned more about what goes into being a performer.  

This program was introduced to MacNeil-Berry by a family friend. MacNeil-Berry then joined Berklee’s email list. Berklee sent numerous emails, encouraging her to enroll in the Vocal Summit program. With research done, MacNeil-Berry decided this program was for her.

MacNeil-Berry described the process to get into this program as being “very formal” and “similar to a college application.” MacNeil-Berry said she had to “answer 15 questions about me as person, write a five hundred word essay and send in a resume.” For the audition itself, she needed to prepare one vocal piece, perform lots of improv, and end it all with an interview. 

At the Vocal Summit, MacNeil-Berry took a songwriting workshop that taught performers how to write songs and “what would actually make a hit.” Another workshop she attended was taught by one of Beyoncé’s backup singers, who taught the performers “how to stay true to yourself but also be the best you can be as a performer.” MacNeil-Berry also learned about “the performing industry itself” and “how to be successful in the career.” 

MacNeil-Berry credited her mom with helping her on the road to discovering that she wanted to learn more about and go to school for performing arts. MacNeil-Berry said that from “the age of two when I started singing” her mom always encouraged her as a performer.

In addition to her mother, MacNeil-Berry also said that attending On Stage School of Performing Arts opened her eyes and made her realize that she can actually go to school and make a career out of doing what she truly loves: performing. When researching the performing world on her own, she recognized the amazing opportunities Berklee had to offer.  

MacNeil-Berry encourages “people to do summer programs outside of school” because there is so much that she took away from attending this summer program, including making new friends that she still keeps in touch with. Morgan encourages people of all ages “to go out and do stuff independently and discover new things on your own!”