From performing on the stage to recording in a professional studio, Jessica McIntosh sees herself making it big in the music industry. Every time she steps onto the stage or the studio familiar feelings of excitement overcome her. Adrenaline flows through her body and the bright smiles coming from the audience help her performance succeed.

Not only has Highland recognized her amazing talent, but also so has LDS singers Clive Romney and Jenny Phillips. When McIntosh was a younger, Romney recognized her voice. She was asked to record songs for the LDS church’s primary cd. Only 13 years old, McIntosh was paid for her amazing talent. She spent hours in the studio learning, recording and rerecording. This taught her that it takes a lot of patience to be a musician and it solidified the thoughts of being a musician one day.

Jenny Phillips, another LDS singer, held a workshop and McIntosh was able to sing in a professional recording studio again. There were 200 applicants and throughout the day they individually auditioned in from of Phillips. She then chose the top 10 singers and McIntosh was one of the 10 singers that got to sing in her studio. The singers got to record Phillips’ song in her studio with her giving them tips and producers watching.

“After recording with Jenny Phillips that’s is when I knew wanted to do that for my career,” McIntosh said, “In 10 years I see myself recording in studios and performing with local musical theatre companies.”

McIntosh has always felt a passion for theater and performance. She started with dance performances and piano recitals as a four year old, but her passion for musical theater didn’t start until she started working with a children’s musical acting group. Center Stage Players changed McIntosh’s life, without it she would have never realized her passion and talent in singing.

“She was always musically talented,” her mother Jenny McIntosh said, “She started dance when she was younger and she would always sing with the music that they were dancing to. Also she was picking out harmonies when she was really young.”

Music is what McIntosh plans to pursue after she graduates, and the Sterling Scholar was a gateway to that dream. She was chosen to be the Vocal Performance Sterling Scholar of Highland. Becoming a Sterling Scholar is very difficult and takes a lot of work and dedication to accomplish.  With this scholarship, college will be easier to pay for and McIntosh hopes to get into a lot more musically enriched schools like Westminster and Brigham Young University.

During McIntosh’s humanitarian trip to the Philippines, she had the opportunity to share her passion and love of music with the children. Reaching Out Worldwide had the volunteers prepare a lesson to teach to the children. When she figured out that they could choose any topic they wanted, she chose music. She taught them about the history of music, techniques and how music can be a way to express different emotions.

It was an amazing experience for her to teach about something she is so passionate about.

“I have learned that music can make others happy,” McIntosh says, “I love seeing people that I sing to light up. It’s an awesome feeling to be able to make people truly happy by doing something that makes me happy.”

McIntosh always tries uplift people and music is the way she does it. Though music she has learned that it can make others happy and when she sings people can find true joy. Many people sing just for fun, but she has a passion that is projected from the stage and has the power to have an effect on people.