“I am the first female drum major since 2006. It’s definitely something that I’m grateful for. I know that it’s history being made, since it’s been so long. But also, I don’t really pay too much attention to it. It could be because I play the trumpet. Our trumpet section is full of guys, and they don’t look at me any differently. So, I just do what I do.

I definitely have a passion for the arts, whether it’s music, theatre, acting, painting, drawing, or dancing. When I was younger, I did ballet. But now, I really just want to be able to use those things to share the gospel. A passion of mine is to be able to share the gospel with whatever gifts that I have. 

I grew up in the church, but I recently got saved about two years ago. In about 9th grade, I got heavily involved in homosexuality, and it went on all through high school. When I got here, it got worse. At one point, I even claimed to not believe in God. But about two years into being at Jackson State, I went to Mexico to stay with my sister and help with my nieces. She was going to church out there, so I went to church with her. And during that time, as I was going to church, God was dealing with my heart, especially about homosexuality. And I knew that if I were to continue in this pattern and He were to take breath away from my lungs, I would be lost forever. So it was just the fear of the Lord in that moment, that from then own, I had this desire to just change. He was pulling on my heart and pulling homosexuality away from me, along with other desires.

And when I got back here, I was able to get into a healthy church, called Grace Community. I’m not a member there yet, but I do attend. There, I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever heard. It was during that time that the change occurred. It was nothing I deserved, or nothing I worked for. It was just by what He did.”

– DeyShaun, senior music technology major from LaPlace, Louisiana. DeyShaun is one of the five drum majors in the ’17-’18 Sonic Boom of the South Marching Band.

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