Graduating senior Ellie Lashier on her musical journey at Iowa State

Ellie Lashier has always loved music. She initially started playing the piano in 1st grade, and continued through high school. So when she had the chance to study piano performance at Iowa State, she knew right away that it was a great fit. Along the way, she took a religious studies class and decided to add that as a 2nd major. While at Iowa State, Lashier took several opportunities to teach piano lessons or play the piano at various events, and decided that maybe she could be an entrepreneur in the music field. She decided that she'd eventually want to open her own studio, but felt like she needed to create a unique curriculum to better educate children on how to learn and fall in love with the piano. Meanwhile, her religious studies major was still appealing to her, so she wondered if she could continue to pursue research that incorporated music and religious studies. That led Lashier to grad school at Yale University, where she'll start next year. But she's hoping to one day come back to Iowa State, this time as a professor.