By Margarita Artoglou

If you’ve ever been walking around on campus and found yourself listening to a couple of girls harmonizing as they walked, you may have already had the privilege of hearing the musical stylings of Madison Koury, GSB ’18.

“I’ve been singing forever,” she says of her favorite hobby. “It’s what I love to do.”

And it shows. Koury and her friends often sing together casually, whenever the mood strikes—if someone mentions a favorite song or a spoken phrase sounds like a popular song lyric, they will burst into song — whether they are in a dorm room or walking to Eddie’s. (Disclaimer: This author is sometimes one of those friends with whom she sings.)

All these years of practice have paid off, as Koury currently serves as the University Church’s cantor during the 8 p.m. mass.

“It’s actually a really funny story,” she says, already laughing at the memory of how she became a member of the Gloria Dei choir. “I found out I was going to be in the choir before I even got my freshman housing.”

Koury was involved in her Catholic high school’s choir, and, upon finding out she would be attending Fordham, her choir director Sister Dolores started making phone calls. Koury had no idea what was going on until one day Sister Dolores announced that Koury would be a member of the Fordham University Church Choir come fall.

Koury says she found her first home at Fordham through the choir, but many choirmembers at first thought she was an upperclassman they had never met, since she attended the first practice before other freshmen were even made aware of the choir.

As the first member of the class of 2018 to join the choir, she has certainly come a long way since her middle school choir teacher told her she couldn’t sing. And although she is a prominent voice of Fordham, she still admits to getting performance anxiety every now and then.

“I still have a panic attack every time Father McShane leads the service!” she says.

While non-churchgoers may not have had the privilege of hearing Koury flex her vocal chops in church, many will still recognize her friendly face. Taking a walk around campus with her almost always involves at least three stops to chat with friends she runs into along the way.

Koury’s presence on campus extends past the University Church and into Campus Ministry, where she serves as a councilmember for the Pedro Arrupe Volunteers, and Flipside, a programming organization that provides free events in Manhattan to students, of which she is president. Students new to Fordham might also recognize her as an academic advising assistant for Gabelli and New Student Orientation leader.

Koury says her extracurriculars allow her to stay engaged with different communities.

“FlipSide’s really cool, because I get to help people learn and explore the city while doing the same thing myself. It’s a really special club because you can’t do this at other schools. And Pedro Arrupe’s great because we’re an interfaith group and we engage with local communities around Fordham. We do one-day service events, like volunteering at the soup kitchen on Creston Avenue, so it’s great for people who don’t have that much time on their hands but still want to volunteer.”

She recently combined two of her favorite things, singing and service, by arranging for the choir to sing for a local nursing home through the Pedro Arrupe Volunteers program.

Though all her Fordham activities keep Koury busy, she still makes room for internships. This Gabelli student has consistently been running off to Manhattan for jobs since her first internship at a PR startup during her sophomore year. She most recently started interning for the ad sales division of the Food Network.

“I really hope I get to meet Guy Fieri,” she says of her new gig.