We are pleased to announce the hiring of Kenyann Stanford as our new Contemporary Worship Leader! Kenyann offered the following about her love of music and what is most important in her life:
I have been involved in music ministry as long as I can remember. I was four years old when I first sang for “special music” in the little country United Methodist Church where I grew up, in a tiny Pennsylvania farming community in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. I played the piano regularly in church from the time I was about 10 years old, and I played in a local contemporary Christian band as a teenager. Music has always been my heart and my soul. Leading worship with other gifted musicians is a gift and a treasure, and there is nothing better than hearing the voices of the whole church community sing worship and praise together.
I received my bachelor’s degree in piano performance and music education at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV in 1985. I came to North Carolina in 1989 to attend law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and received my law degree in 1992. After practicing law here in Raleigh for 16 years, I followed an unexpected call to return to education, and became the music teacher at Fuller Elementary School, a southeast Raleigh magnet school. The student needs I saw as a teacher led me to pursue a career in school administration, and I obtained my Masters in School Administration in 2014 and my Doctorate in Educational Leadership in 2017 at East Carolina University. I am currently an administrator at Fuller, and I teach education law and social justice courses as an adjunct professor in the School of Education at UNC.
The most beautiful of the many beautiful things in my life is that I have six children – Kaitlin, Kaleb, Jordan, Jonah, Jacob and John, ages 13-26. All of my children are involved in music and are wickedly talented, and it is incredibly special for me to share musical spaces with them. We play lots of board games, and we love to hike and kayak. We are avid waterfall chasers.