Robbie Fairchild Celebrates a Different Kind of Opening Night
Opening night was the most important night for Robbie Fairchild, as the last day of classes concluded his year here at the University of Pennsylvania. It was also the night he met his future husband, Joe, who is from California and just happens to have a lot of family in Pennsylvania.
Fairchild, a first-generation college student, took his own initiative in choosing to attend Penn and had long conversations with his family about what he wanted in life, what his goals were. Even though his father had graduated from high school in West Virginia (where Joe was born) and had spent time working in the oil fields in Pennsylvania, he didn’t make an explicit decision to go to Penn. He knew that his family was close to the University of Pennsylvania as a result of a friend he knew who was an alum of the school.
That friend, Matt, is now a fellow in a new role as director of admissions at Penn, and Fairchild has become an avid Penn supporter, helping out whenever he can. That’s how he ended up joining the Penn Vocal Music Ensemble, a group of singers from various performing arts programs that are performing their own original music at the end of the year. It was at Penn that he first came into contact with the University’s music students, with the help of Matt Pritchard.
The Penn Vocal Music Ensemble is currently touring through the United States and has a full-length album coming out in February. They’re scheduled to perform at Penn’s Convocation ceremony on Friday, February 25, and the event begins at 4 p.m.
For those of you who may not know, the University of Pennsylvania awards academic scholarships to students. In his first year, Fairchild received an academic scholarship through the William V. Harris Foundation, based on his performance audition and academic performance. Through his performance, he received additional awards
