Washington Adventist University Student Sings on Street Eight Hours a Day to Pay for School
28 January 2020 | Cariel Coates is putting herself through graduate school by singing on the streets of Washington, DC.
Coates is an international student from Antigua, pursuing a Masters in Clinical Psychology at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland.
The website of ABC7 WJLA reported that she sings about 8 hours per day on the streets close to Farragut Square or Foggy Bottom Metro. Coates monetizes her singing by having a tip jar available to generous passersby.
She’s well-equipped with a generator, speakers, a computer, her phone and business cards.
Coates sings Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys and Elvis Presley hits, saying that God is using her singing to connect with community members. Some of her fans have tipped her hundreds of dollars.
Washington Adventist University is located in Takoma Park, Maryland, a suburb of the United States capital city of Washington, DC. It began as Washington Missionary College soon after the turn of the 20th century when the denomination’s General Conference moved from Battle Creek, Michigan, to Washington, DC.