Marcus Mundy’s introduction to the Glee Club in his first few days as a freshman was the start of his exploration of all that the University of Pennsylvania has to offer.

“I saw the Glee Club at Convocation and I said, ‘I want to be on that stage with those guys,’” says Mundy, who sings baritone.  “It’s been pretty magical ever since.”

In the Glee Club, the Philadelphia native immediately found a home on campus.

“Since that first year, we’ve developed as brothers in song.”

Mundy has bonded with the group through his first tour with the Glee Club in Scandinavia, participating in campus events, rehearsals and long bus rides for performances across the nation.  

Mundy’s other interests have led him to working with students at PennCAP, the college achievement program that works with Penn students from the time they’re freshmen through graduation.

He holds a work study job at the LGBT Center, is a Penn Abroad ambassador, talking to students about his experience studying in Israel, and he’s the outreach chair for the Penn group, Queer People of Color.

A senior international relations and modern Middle East studies major Mundy speaks Spanish and Arabic, and while studying abroad at the University of Tel Aviv, he learned to speak Hebrew as well.

During his time in Israel in his junior year, he traveled extensively through the Middle East, visiting the Negev Desert and seeing the pyramids in Egypt.

In Israel, Mundy studied international relations and political science. Outside of class, he volunteered at a center that assists African refugees by doing research for refugees who wanted to attend college. At the center, he interviewed the refugees to find out why they had left countries such as Sudan and Ethiopia.

That work inspired him to participate in an alternative spring break in 2013.  He chose to volunteer with the International Rescue Committee, an organization in Texas that works with refugees living in the United States.

Mundy appreciates every opportunity he’s had at Penn, especially his experience with the Glee Club. “It’s awesome to meet tons of people who I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” Mundy says. “We are in all four [undergraduate] schools. We are from all over the country, all over the world. We’re very much a bringing together of people who have so much to share.”

After graduation in the spring, Mundy may teach English in another country or join the Peace Corps. Then, he’ll consider grad school.