Torn between attending a conservatory or college, violinist Cole Dachenhaus found the best of both worlds at Kenyon. "I wasn't ready to devote everything entirely to music," Dachenhaus said. "I wanted to balance it with academics."

A junior with a double major in German Area Studies and music and a minor in sociology, Dachenhaus has been able to pursue other interests at Kenyon while his musical development has flourished.

Dachenhaus began playing the violin at age eight and toured the United State and Europe at age 15 as assistant concertmaster with the International Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in western Michigan.

His training in the music department at Kenyon has included solo concerts and recitals; performances with the Knox County Symphony and Kenyon College String Ensemble; master classes with the Colorado String Quartet and internationally acclaimed violinist Soovin Kim; and seats as a substitute with the New Albany (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra in West Virginia.

"If I were at a big-name music school in New York, there would not be many orchestras I could sit with there and get the real-word experience I've had here," he said. "My teacher [Ariane Sletner] is conservatory trained and treats me as if I am at a conservatory, pushing me to be the best musician I can be."

Meanwhile, Dachenhaus will intensify his German studies this spring with Kenyon-approved residencies at the Humboldt University in Berlin and the Berlin University of the Arts. He is considering law school or a master's program in violin performance after graduation. "I'm not sure I want music to be the only thing I do, but it is something I always want to do," he said. "If it doesn't work out, I'll always have my Kenyon education to fall back on."