In my time at the University of Mary, I have had the opportunity to participate in many diversity experiences. One of these experiences was a Music Department tour to Minneapolis/St. Paul that visited many schools in the twin cities area. Many of the schools we visited were private schools, which was very different from my experiences in public schools. These schools were often smaller than some of the public schools in the area, with very impressive chapels as part of their facilities.

Another Band and Choir tour brought me to South Dakota, where we visited many public and private schools. These schools were usually very spacious with a student population to match. These schools had very talented students and directors.

Recently, I had the opportunity to go on tour with the University of Mary jazz band to Winnipeg and some surrounding communities. During this tour, we had the chance to view some of these international schools operated. There was a very pronounced sense of nationalism in these schools due to their national anthem being played every morning. 

During March of 2015, I had the experience of touring to Chicago and the surrounding areas with the University of Mary Band and Choir. During this tour, I had the opportunity to work with the concert band and jazz band at Mt. Carmel High School. This is an all-male private catholic school with a growing band program. The group was in the process of preparing for a concert and it was very interesting to see their level of musicianship. In general, I was surprised at the sizes of the music programs at the schools we visited: many programs seemed rather small in comparison to the size of the school.