“I think in music,” Ion says.

The junior will be the first to graduate from the recently established five-year program with a bachelor’s in Music Education and a master’s degree in Teaching. She will walk with her class at commencement next spring and will receive an M.S. after her fifth year, which includes graduate classes and student teaching. Ion will be certified to teach pre-K through grade 12.

“I knew from the start I wanted to be a teacher,” she says. “I interned at my high school and loved the kids. I liked standing up there and being able to make a difference.”

Ion hopes to move back to her hometown of Gaithersburg and teach before eventually earning a doctorate.

“She loves working with people,” says Senior Music Lecturer David Kreider. “That’s very important when it comes to being a musician, especially when you want to work in a teaching capacity.”

The five-year music program, one of 15 master’s programs at the College, was established in 2003.

“The music education bachelor’s degree is extremely thick to begin with, and it takes nine semesters no matter how you cut it,” says Music Professor Margaret Boudreaux. “Why not coordinate it in such a way that by adding an extra semester, students could be certified to teach and have a master’s degree.”

Ion says music has taught her discipline and time management. It’s clear as she ticks off the musical groups with whom she plays, this is a woman who likes to stay busy.

On Monday nights Ion works with the Frederick Youth Orchestra and Band. She is also involved in College Choir, Madrigals, Band, Percussion Ensemble, and recently took on the enormous task of musically directing a student production of “Charlie Brown.”

“I had to rewrite lots of songs. But by the Tuesday before opening, my soul was in these actors,” Ion says.

As her fingers dance over the piano keys like a breeze, it’s easy to see her soul is also deep in the music.