Vandervelde to Sing National Anthem

March 25, 2010

IOWA CITY, Iowa — President Barack Obama won’t be the only one taking the stage today at the University of Iowa Field House.

A vocally gifted member of the 2010 FedEx Orange Bowl champion Iowa fototball team, the reigning Miss Iowa, local musicians and community leaders will participate by sharing an invocation, leading the pledge of allegiance and singing the national anthem prior to the president’s delivery of a speech about the healthcare reform legislation signed into law this week.

Following is the lineup, with events beginning at approximately 12:45 p.m., just prior to Obama’s 1 p.m. speech.

The Rev. Marsha Acord, president of the University of Iowa Association of Campus Ministers with the United Methodist Campus Ministries through the Wesley Center, will give the invocation.

Jacob Rosenberg, a UI junior majoring in political science and ethics and public policy in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), will lead the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. Rosenberg is an Ames, Iowa, native and is co-president of the UI Democrats.

Julian Vandervelde, a senior from Davenport, Iowa, will sing the national anthem. Vandervelde entered spring camp for the Hawkeyes yesterday as a starter on the Iowa’s offensive line after having started in nine of Iowa’s 12 games last year when Kirk Ferentz’s squad advance to its second Bowl Championship Series event in program history. A CLAS student majoring in English and religious studies with a minor in Japanese. Miss Iowa, Anne Michael Langguth, will accompany Vandervelde on violin.

Langguth is a 2005 graduate of Iowa City West High School and a 2009 graduate of Harvard University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government, health policy and pre-medicine. After finishing her year of service as Miss Iowa, she plans to attend the UI College of Medicine. She also serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network and as an ambassador for the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory to promote public health and engagement in the sciences.

Intersection, the only all-male, a capella group on the UI campus, will perform several songs, including “One Day” by Matis Yahu, NBC’s theme song for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Formed in 2005, the student-based Intersection consists of 11 members from Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota.