NEIU graduate student Stephanie Durant's fond memories of her honeymoon in Fiji led her to enter, and win, the recent "I Love Gain" contest, sponsored by Gain laundry detergent. "I was very excited and jumping around," said Durant about learning of the win. Her winning entry? "I use Gain Island Fresh because it reminds me of happy memories from our island honeymoon. I first smelled Gain when we were newlyweds, and I plan to continue to use it throughout our marriage." The prize? $2,000 and the chance to meet singer Mandy Moore and see her perform June 15 at the LaSalle Power Co. in Chicago.

However, just before the private concert began, Moore's representative asked Durant if she would like to sing along with Moore. Durant, who is currently working on her Master of Arts in vocal pedagogy here at NEIU, happily accepted. After a quick glance at the lyrics, she was ready to sing along on Moore's hit song "I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week."

When she is not winning contests and singing with pop idols, Durant attends classes at NEIU and also works full-time teaching voice, both privately and at Boocoo in Evanston. Durant's love of music is a lifelong one, and really developed when she was 11 years old and singing in the children's chorus in the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Over the years she has performed in many productions, including Peter Pan, Oklahoma and Godspell, and more recently appeared as the baker's wife in NEIU's production of Steven Sondheim's musical Into the Woods.

Durant strives for improvement, and the vocal pedagogy program at NEIU is helping her achieve that end. There she is learning performance aspects, how to use her voice as an instrument, and how to be a better voice teacher. Durant likes the program's flexible class schedule, and she enjoys meeting other teachers, learning different techniques and participating in workshops. Most importantly, though, the training is enriching her singing. "Performance helps teaching; teaching helps performance," she said.

"I'd like to have a two-pronged career that balances performing and teaching," Durant said about life after graduation. "I would like to teach at the college level, and I want to perform around Chicago, perhaps opera or musical theatre." With aspirations to teach and the desire to develop her own singing style, Durant has another goal: "To have a happy life and marriage."