Physics Major Thankful for Choir, Theatre Roles
Shaped through a variety of experiences through her four years at BVU, senior London VanHorbeck is looking at two very distinct career paths. Both, although vastly different, she said will bring her happiness.
London VanHorbeck examines a pair of career paths and promises she could find total happiness in either field.
The catch is in how unrelated they may seem.
“I could see myself one day becoming a physics professor who teaches and gets into research,” says VanHorbeck, a senior physics major. “I could also see myself working as part of a stage crew for a theater production as I really enjoy that kind of work.”
VanHorbeck’s work study position for the past two years has involved event services in The Forum and beyond. When a presenter stands at the podium before a packed crowd in Anderson Auditorium, it is often VanHorbeck who trouble-shoots and keeps the lights and audio working correctly.
“I was excited to do something that can affect the community immediately and could really impact our world in a positive way.”
London VanHorbeck
“I’ve been a part of choir and BVU Theatre,” she says, listing four stage productions she’s appeared in during her undergraduate time. “I also helped plan the BVU Choir spring break trip to Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans last spring.”
VanHorbeck, who sang in choir and show choir at Cedar Rapids Prairie High School, sang on stage at New York City’s Carnegie Hall during her freshman year at BVU, a time that remains a highlight.
She has spent part of her senior year developing an apparatus to harness wave energy from a body of water, such as Storm Lake, working in concert with Dr. Shawn Stone, Professor of Physics and Computer Science, and fellow physics major David Arona.
“I was excited to do something that can affect the community immediately and could really impact our world in a positive way,” she says of the Lake Energy Extraction Project.
The work could eventually help lead VanHorbeck to graduate school, where she aims to work in the fields of molecular physics or subatomic particle physics.
But, again, she might also one day help stage a Broadway musical. Her options remain open, in part, because of her varied BVU experiences.
“I love having two totally different worlds open to me,” she says.