Editor’s Note: Ryan Woodall is a PLNU alumna who graduated in spring 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She was in the concert choir for her three years, serving as vice president her last year. She continues to incorporate her love for music and choir into her daily life, now exploring different parts of the world with a keen ear and curiosity for music from all cultures.
Before coming to college, I had an idea in my head about what kind of role a professor and mentor would play in my life. I hoped for someone who would push me, encourage me and believe in me. I wasn’t sure who that mentor would be, but I was happily surprised to see that Professor Dan Jackson filled those shoes.
Jackson was exactly the mentor I was looking for.
A memory that has been returning to my mind often since he passed is a day during my second year of college. We had an assessment of sorts in choir that week, one where we had to learn our part for a difficult song and sing it independently for him, to ensure we knew our part and could contribute to the choir reliably. I sang my part and passed the assessment. After I had sung, he told me how I had a great voice, and I should consider auditioning for a solo.
That was the first time any teacher or mentor had said that to me and meant it.
I walked out of his office and immediately started practicing the solo I would audition for and get for our Hawaii spring 2024 tour. The experience of holding the responsibility to help deliver a powerful hymn for the congregations we worshipped beside is an honor I will never forget. I wouldn’t have even considered myself for the solo had it not been for Jackson’s encouraging words.
It is that same encouragement that would also motivate me to run for choir vice president. I cannot emphasize enough the deep responsibility, ambition and humility the choir gifted me through that role. I have yet to experience genuine support, love and community more impactful than the 2024-2025 PLNU Concert Choir.
I owe all of this to Jackson’s presence in my life and the way he set the tone for the culture of the concert choir. His passion for choral music ran deeper than any teacher I’ve ever known. His love for the art of music was shown through his work.
As is a similar experience to many of my peers, I didn’t have the most positive experience in choir before college. I wasn’t always surrounded by people or mentors who built me up. I also wasn’t a music major or minor at PLNU, something that sometimes made me feel unworthy of singing alongside the incredible talents of its music programs.
Never for a moment was I made to feel inadequate, less than or anything but loved in the concert choir. Jackson intentionally set the tone year after year of inclusion, community, fun and hard work. He took leadership incredibly seriously, a value he passed along to our team.
Sierra Hill, who is also a spring 2025 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in music education, and I took our roles as president and vice president seriously and felt a responsibility to do right by the choir. That was thanks to Jackson’s trust in us. He took our ideas seriously and helped us accomplish our goals, no matter how outlandish or ambitious they were.
There are no more words to say other than we miss him and we always will. His presence was a vital part of all of our lives, and I am forever grateful to have been his friend. I thank God for the ability to cross paths with an incredible mentor with a truly golden heart.
Olivia Roberts