Everyone has story to tell. Whether simple of complex, profound or funny, MI Lake Life tells those stories and how the thread of LMC weaves through them.
“I've always loved music. I’ve always loved to sing. My first show was when I was 9 at The Tin Shop Theatre in Buchanan. I guess I just fell in love with it then. I did several shows through Children's Music Workshop and Performing Arts Workshop.
With that experience, I came into Lake Michigan College through the musical theater pathway. It felt like the obvious choice. I’m from Buchanan and was homeschooled through the Berrien Springs Parent Partnership. I took LMC dual enrollment classes and finished many of my gen ed classes before I officially enrolled. Between that and the LMC Promise Scholarship, it made sense.
I took mostly theater classes and was in all three musicals while at LMC. I played the lead role of Percy Jackson in The Lightning Thief, directed by Pat King; Ned Schneebly in School of Rock: The Musical, directed by Susan Matheny; and most recently, the young Edward Bloom in Big Fish, directed by Shalico Sain.
I found my favorite part of musicals is the music. I finished out my theater classes and paid my own way for a third year to get my associates degree in music with the help of the Music Matters Endowed Scholarship and the Louise Requardt Naylor Scholarship.
I still love theatre, but I wanted to explore music on its own. I’ve been a member of Vox LMC, the jazz vocal group, for two years. I’ve also taken composition classes and piano lessons. I never studied music theory until I came to LMC, so it was like working from ground zero for me. I couldn’t read music very well. If I heard the song once, I could sing it easily. That’s how I always did it. But there’s more to it, especially if you want to get into composition. I want to thank Becky Selvidge, Rob Lunn, Chuck Reid, Alexandra Lee, Mindy McCaffrey, and Pat King for being such an important part of my time at LMC and for teaching me so much.
I’m graduating with a lot of interests, a lot of things that would be cool to do. I definitely want to be in the arts, ideally in music in some way. I've grown as a person and feel like I’m a better person on my way out than I was coming in.”
Landon Mitchell
2026 LMC Graduate, Associate in Arts, Highest Honors &
Outstanding Musician of the Year
Posted May 20, 2026