Lake Zurich High student chosen for music camp hosted by Grammys

Maggie Fewkes' dream of a career in music became clearer when she was selected to be one of 90 high school students across the country to attend a music industry summer camp hosted by The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

"I was absolutely and utterly thrilled," Fewkes said of learning in May that she'd been selected. "It was the best moment of my life, not gonna lie."

Fewkes, a junior at Lake Zurich High School, heard about the camp while at choir rehearsal at the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory. In March, she submitted a video to the Grammy Museum. In it, she sang "Jolene" by Dolly Parton and "I'll Never Love Again" from the newest "A Star Is Born" movie.

Campers are selected based on their talents in a wide field of specialties, including songwriting, performing an instrument, producing electronic music and being a music journalist. At the camp, which runs five days in July, the teens will work with professionals using the latest technology.

The program includes instruction at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music as well as career guidance from members of the indie folk band The Head and the Heart and from 28-year-old pop performer JoJo, who signed her first recording contract at 12.

"I'm going to learn so many new things which will help me pursue my dream," Fewkes said. "Music is something in my life I can't ever, ever give up."

Maggie's father, Dan Fewkes, said she has been singing her whole life.

"It's been amazing to hear her voice mature," Dan Fewkes said. "I never thought my children would be doing performance work. It's been so great."

In addition to performing with choirs at the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory in Highwood and at Lake Zurich High, Maggie Fewkes has performed in musicals with the Cricket Theater Company in Lake Zurich and sings in the contemporary worship band at the Lutheran Church of the Atonement in Barrington.