One year ago, The Presser Foundation implemented several significant changes to the Undergraduate Scholar Award program. These changes included adding 32 Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) to the program, shifting the focus from institution to student recipient with the addition of a nomination form, moving giving the Award from the student’s junior year to their senior year, and demonstrating how the student recipient contributes to an inclusive community.
One year later, the Foundation is looking back on the program and the meaning of the changes. While it’s difficult to measure impact after only one year, we can definitively say that the newly added schools have benefited from receiving the Award and that their students have as well. Below are three examples of exemplary students and insight into how two schools were impacted by being included in the Award program for the first time.
Senior Selah Rose Kjar received the Award at Angelo State University (ASU), an HSI. ASU shared that the Award is the “most prestigious undergraduate honor in music.” Her primary instrument is the clarinet, and she has performed as a member of the ASU Ram Band, ASU Wind Ensemble, ASU Symphony Orchestra, ASU Symphonic Band, and ASU Woodwind Ensembles. She has also performed on her secondary instruments, trombone and tuba, with the ASU Symphonic Band.
With the ASU Ram Band, Kjar was first chosen to be a section leader and then the student assistant to Dr. Jonathan Alvis, director of bands. As part of that leadership team, she taught her fellow students in music and drills and helped run rehearsals. She served as a counselor and team member for the annual ASU Summer Music Camp. After graduation, Kjar is taking up the post of head band director for the Eden Consolidated Independent School District.
At Texas Lutheran University (TLU), the School of Music Director shared, “I am thrilled beyond words, first that we were invited to apply for the program; and second, that the TLU School of Music was ultimately accepted into the Presser Foundation Undergraduate Scholar Award program. The fact that the Foundation is aware of the TLU School of Music, acknowledges the strength of our faculty and the quality of our program, and wants to support the wonderful things our graduates are doing is both validating and humbling. I am proud of all of my colleagues who have worked together diligently to make this possible.”
TLU’s Gabrielle Garza is a worthy first recipient of the Scholar Award. The music education/choral music major has served as the vice president of the TLU Choirs, worked in TLU’s Music and Memory Outreach program, and served as a mentor and friend to many other students. She accomplished all of this even while undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer, during which she wasn’t sure she would regain full vocal ability, much less be able to sing. Garza did, though, and she shares that “to be named one of (The Presser Foundation’s) scholars is an honor I will work my entire career to live up to.”
Another recipient is Maurice Harrington, a music major at Morgan State University, a newly added HBCU. Harrington served as a leader in the bass section of the Morgan State University Choir and volunteered to represent the department in the first-ever hosting of the Regional DMV Laffont Metropolitan Opera District auditions. He participated in the “Shared Voices” program, which fosters collaboration between HBCUs and Predominantly-Black Institutions (PBIs) in music. Outside of music, Harrington spends time helping individuals fill out housing and employment applications and register to vote. He also walks around his community, distributing pamphlets about the services available to them. Harrington is using the Award funds for transportation to and from auditions to competitions, for new scores to his music library, and for transportation to Bard Conservatory to continue his education. “I hope to represent both my alma mater and The Presser Foundation as a representative of scholarly integrity and dedication to my craft.”
The Foundation is pleased to see an increase in the number of BIPOC students selected to receive the Award, the greater focus on the student and their impact on the music program and broader community, and the importance of recognizing a school/program of music for their efforts in teaching the next generation of music performers, educators, therapists, industrialists, and nonprofit administrators. More work to center equity will continue to be done, and in the meantime, future Presser Scholars will receive something many students look forward to wearing on commencement – graduation cords.
