Ella Vaughn, ‘23, excels in both voice and theater performance. Vaughn began singing at a young age, and has since qualified as a finalist in the Overture Awards, performed in the WHHS Ensemble, and performed in multiple WHHS musicals, including The Spongebob Musical.

“Performing in Spongebob has built a lot of confidence up for me, and doing choir has been really impactful [in my singing career],” Vaughn said.

Vaughn, a soprano, sings pop, soul and jazz, but focuses primarily on opera music. She looks to a variety of different singers of all genres for inspiration in her own music, including singer Aretha Franklin, as well as multiple classical singers.
“I love Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, they’re amazing singers, [who are] people of color… and you don’t really see that much in classical singing, so I look up to them.”

Vaughn hopes to continue her success with a professional career in music.

“My goal is just to perform professionally, and then to teach [as a professor],” Vaughn said.