Dr. Sangeetha Rayapati, LSM’s Inaugural Alumni Award Recipient
Dr. Sangeetha Rayapati
LSM is thrilled to announce Dr. Sangeetha Rayapati as the inaugural LSM Alumni Award recipient. A professor, performing artist, and the mayor of Moline, IL, Dr. Rayapati is an exemplary model of a collaborative leader and humble servant working for positive change in her community. The award will be presented to Dr. Rayapati during LSM 2023 at the annual Board of Directors Reception on Saturday, July 22, which begins at 5 pm.
Dr. Rayapati has spent seven summers with LSM—first as a student in 1990 and 1991, as a counselor in 1997, and as a voice faculty member from 2000-2003. She earned degrees in music and nursing from Valparaiso University. While working in nursing, she completed graduate degrees in vocal performance from the University of Minnesota. Her career path has focused on caring for others and helping bring out the best in people through thoughtful collaboration.
In 2001, she began serving on the music faculty at Augustana College, the very campus that hosted her first summer with LSM. Dr. Rayapati now teaches her students in the same studio that held her first LSM private lesson. In April 2021, Dr. Rayapati was elected mayor of the city of Moline, IL. Her work has focused on rebuilding city staffing and services while increasing equity, focusing on redevelopment and preparing Moline for future growth.
Upon notification of receiving this award, Dr. Rayapati shared,
My two summers at LSM as a camper, my year as a counselor, and the several years spent as voice faculty were integral parts of my growth as a musician and as a human being. The Lutheran call to vocation and to meet the world where its needs are was reinforced over and over in the experiences I had and the relationships I cultivated that have remained with me to this day. Even a phone call with my mother while at camp where she reminded me to 'stay open to possibilities' is indelibly in my memory as a guiding principle, learned while a part of this community. I strive to keep those two ideas of vocation and possibility in my life at all times and am thankful for the role Lutheran Summer Music has played in my life. It is an honor to be recognized for my work by the same organization that inspired it.
Read more about Dr. Rayapati in an April, 2023 article from the Quad-City Times: Maker her voice heard: Sangeetha Rayapati leads Moline as mayor, students as a professor
LSM Annual Alumni Award
The purpose of the LSM Annual Alumni Award is to recognize those alumni who have made significant contributions to their community, church, or society at large, and whose accomplishments, affiliations, vocations, or careers have positively shaped our world and reflect the spirit of LSM.