Derian Silva
Staff Writer
Dillon Honn is a music major at who used Parkland to discover his passion.
Honn has had first-hand experience with how easy switching majors can be at Parkland and how doing so can lead to discovering one’s true passion.
Honn originally came to Parkland from Gilman, Ill., and began to study veterinary science. Soon he decided that it wasn’t for him, though, because he realized animals were not his what he was most passionate about. Instead, he realized how much he loved music education and chose to begin studying that.
Even though he had a few credits in veterinary science, he was able to switch to music education at Parkland easily because he hadn’t begun to take the higher-level courses which could have made it more difficult to change majors later.
He wants to one day become a music teacher and give back to the world what he has found through being taught music.
“Even though I am a music education major I hope to use the knowledge I’ve gained here to help others find their passion,” Honn says.
After making the decision to switch majors, he says it was very easy to transition and instantly felt like a part of the family.
“They really do care about how you’re doing and check up on you occasionally to make sure things are going well,” he says.
Honn performs with the jazz ensemble at the school as a saxophonist, which has allowed him to perform occasionally around town as well.
“Sometimes we go down to this jazz club in downtown Urbana called the Iron Post and we usually have a big show at the end of the year,” Honn says.
Honn is also a member of Parkland’s Perimeter Road Sound Recordings, a record label and recording studio on campus. He takes on the role of an engineer there and tries to delve into every other aspect of the recordings as they are happening.
Some of his favorite aspects of working at the studio are getting to set up microphones, hit record, set levels, work the central audio connection area—and almost everything else. Honn also gets to take an active role in promoting the work that Perimeter Road does by doing everything from writing promotional material to distributing the works.
By taking a role in Perimeter Road, Honn has come to fully realize what his passion is.
“Being completely honest I had no idea what was involved in music recording, music production or anything until I took a class here at Parkland and it changed everything for me as it made me realize what I love about music,” Honn says.
A lot of Honn’s motivation and energy comes from Deane Geiken and Adam Porter, the faculty members at the record label. Honn says that constantly seeing how excited they are about projects makes him feel like they truly care about what he is learning.