A Message to Everyone from Dan
May 26, 2005
My name is Dan Gardner and I am very happy to be here. I’d like to start off by telling you a little bit about myself.
I was born in New York City to a young single mother who couldn’t take care of me. She put me up for adoption, and I was adopted by a great family from Goshen when I was just a baby. I grew up in Goshen, IN. I’m of mixed race, part white and part black. I’m dyslexic, and I’m the youngest of 5 siblings. I have two older brothers and two older sisters. I love my family very much and I am very proud of them.
Music has always been an important part of my life. When I was growing up I was encouraged by my parents to take an interest in it. I studied piano for 5 years and played the saxophone for 3 years. Music was such a big part of my upbringing. The melody, the lyrics, the emotion of a song--all of it was and is incredibly powerful to me.
I was part of a children’s community choir when I was seven. The experience of singing with my friends, and performing for the community was great. Singing was what I wanted to do the rest of my life. I knew I wanted to be a recording artist.
The following year when I turned eight I went to audition for the children’s community choir. After my audition the choir director told me that I didn’t make the choir. She felt that singing wasn’t my strength and that I shouldn’t be a singer. She told me that I could enjoy music in other ways, just that it wouldn’t be through singing.
I was crushed. I was devastated. I was confused. I was sure that singing was supposed to be a big part of my life. Unfortunately I listened to the choir director and didn’t sing again until my junior year of High School.
During the years of growing up without singing in my life made my path unclear to me. I didn’t have any strong sense of what to do. I was not a confident person and I was sad inside. I wanted to experience that feeling I had felt earlier in life when I was singing.
During my Elementary and Jr. High years I struggled with another issue. As I said earlier I am dyslexic, but at that time in my life I didn’t realize what it was. My family and my teachers didn’t know what it was either.
School was becoming harder and harder for me. I would study for tests and I would do my homework, but it was a constant struggle for me. I didn’t understand at the time why life seemed so difficult. I was fortunate that I had a great family who loved me, and I had a good group of friends at school. I was grateful for all of those things, but I still felt lost and confused.
My Junior year of High School I was approached by the choral director. She had talked with several other teachers in the school who were aware that I had studied piano, and had played the saxophone for a number of years. She was in need of a tenor for her choir. Because of my musical background she was interested in auditioning me for her choir. I told her my story of when I was younger, and that she would probably be disappointed in my voice. She wanted me to audition anyways.
I opened my mouth and started singing. I was overwhelmed with this great feeling of happiness. This was it. This was what I had been missing in my life. I had been searching all those years for what had been in front of me all along. I felt great. I didn’t doubt myself any longer. I found something I loved to do and I was good at it. I said to myself at that very moment, “Dan this is your path. This is who you are. Embrace it!”
I didn’t doubt it any longer, I didn’t question it, and I would not allow others to influence me any longer. I made the audition that year of High School, and I went on to be a member of the Goshen High School Crimsonaires.
During the rest of my High School and College career I studied voice. I was trained classically in Italian, Spanish, and English. My last year of High School a counselor discovered that I was dyslexic. It was helpful and comforting to me to finally know why I learned differently from the other kids at school. I figured out better ways to study for tests and to do home work. Singing actually helped me quite a bit. I would make up tunes to the subject I was studying. It was a great way for me to remember information I need for a test.
During my years as an adult I have continued to pursue my path in music. I was a voice teacher for several years. Now I am enjoying my professional career in the music and television industry.
In October of 2002 I had an opportunity to audition for the NBC Today Show Superstar Contest. 4100 people auditioned and 6 were chosen to compete on national television. I won that contest and now I am continuing to live my dream by having a professional career in the music and television industry. I have performed at the Kentucky Derby, for professional baseball games, on worldwide television, and (hopefully) will have my own TV show this coming winter.
Why share my story with you today? My hope is that you will see that growing-up I was fortunate in some ways and unfortunate in others—just like you. There were days when I was happy and days when I was sad and confused—just like you. Whether it seems that way or not—everyone is like that.
But here is what is important: You must understand and believe that you have the power to be whatever you want to be. You truly can do whatever it is you want to do in life. It doesn’t matter what background you come from, the color of your skin, if you are a boy or a girl, how smart you are, or how popular you are. You can do anything you want to in life. You can achieve any dream you decide you want to go after. It just takes you believing in you. You will have to work very hard at it, but it’s worth it.
I hope that my story encourages all of you to realize your own dreams. Please believe in yourself and never comprise who you are as a person. Find out what you want to do and then work hard and have faith. Then your dreams will come true. Thank you.
