While she may have taken a roundabout way to get there, incoming Dowagiac Choir Director Mary Alice Korth has finally found the career she feels is perfectly in tune with her interests and goals in life.

Administrators with Dowagiac Union Schools recently hired Korth, of Jenison, Michigan, to take over leadership of the middle and high school choirs. Korth will take over the podium from Jeff Robinson, who retired this month after 15 years of directing the Dowagiac choir.

For Korth, the job marks the biggest number in her career as music instructor and performer.

A native of Jenison, located outside Grand Rapids, Korth fell in love with music from an early age, joining her church choir while she was in second grade, she said. In fifth grade, Korth joined her school’s orchestra, and joined the school choir the following year at the behest of the director, she said. As a teenager, she also began learning piano, and began taking private voice lessons when she was 14 years old, she said.

“It just felt right,” Korth said about why she became enamored with music. “Whether I was performing in the choir or orchestra, I felt like I was the most like myself in those situations, in that atmosphere.”

After graduating from Jenison High School in 2001, Korth continued to follow her passion for music, studying music and voice performance at Ohio Wesleyan University.

While she was initially unsure of what she wanted to do with her career after college, her voice instructor suggested she get into teaching music in higher education, advice Korth followed.

It was also in college where she got her first taste of music instruction, as she began giving private voice lessons in 2003, mainly working with middle and high school students, she said.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree from the school in 2005, Korth enrolled at the University of Michigan to continue her education. However, instead of pushing forward toward a doctorate required for her teach at the college level, she chose to focus on a career outside academia after she received her master’s degree in 2007.

After spending three years improving her skills under the tutelage of Nicholas Loren in Holland, Michigan, Korth packed her bags and headed off to New York to pursue a career as a professional singer in 2010.

She returned to Michigan in 2016 after realizing she missed the unique interactions that come with teaching, she said. Korth said one of the most rewarding things she has experienced is witnessing the growth of her middle and high school students, watching them go from being unable to nail high notes to being unable to contain their urge to show off their newfound skills after several months of instruction, she said.

“It is a special kind of impact your can make on children in that age group,” she said.

She enrolled in classes at Grand Valley State University, where she recently received her K-12 teaching certificate. She also began working as an instructor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp while she looked for a full-time teaching job.

Korth was introduced to Dowagiac in April, where she attended a district job fair. After chatting briefly with Matthew Severin, then principal of Dowagiac Middle School, Korth decided to apply for a job with the district — unaware that in a few short weeks, Robinson would announce his retirement.

Korth would meet Severin again, as well as other school administrators, a few months later during her interview for the choir director position.

“Dowagiac is a small town, but it’s not a dead one,” Korth said about her impressions of Dowagiac. “It’s a very vibrant community that values the arts, and is willing to invest its time and energy into them.”

Korth was also impressed by the dedication and passion the district has poured into the choir program, as well as by the spirit and professionalism of its members, she said.

Korth will take over the position in August, though she plans to make trips to and from her home in Jenison before then. She plans on to spend her first year getting her feet wet, getting to know the students and the community better, though she wants to make it a priority to get more boys involved with the program.

“We will continue growing and making the best musicians we can,” she said.