FRIENDS OF MUSIC AWARD SCHOLARSHIPS TO TWO AREA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

FRIENDS OF MUSIC AWARD SCHOLARSHIPSTO TWO AREA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The Friends of Music have awarded $500 scholarships to two graduating seniors from area high schools.
The scholarships were presented at a Friends’ concert last Saturday, May 18, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Shepherdstown.
The recipients were Lilly Noel, of Shepherdstown, who will graduate June 2 from the St. James School, and Walter Kester, of Charles Town, who graduated May 19 from Jefferson High School.
One accompanying photo shows Noel, left, with Friends of Music president Linda Walker, right. The other photo shows Walker, left, with Kester, right
Both of the students were recommended highly for their musical abilities, leadership qualities and their character.
Noel has been a member of the string program for community students at Shepherd University for the past six years. An outstanding violinist, she earned the title of concertmaster of the Shepherd Community Orchestra for the 2018-2019 season.
At school, she has been equally dedicated to academics and sports. She and her family are active members of Shepherdstown’s St. Agnes Parish.

Kester began playing tuba in middle school when he was living in Weatherford, Texas. He was named “Best Brass Player” in his eighth-grade year there and then took up the sousaphone in the ninth grade. His family moved to Charles Town in the middle of his freshman high school year, and he has been an integral member of the Jefferson High School Marching Band, Concert Band, and Symphonic Band for the past four years.
He plans to major in music education and performance at West Virginia Wesleyan University.
Walker said the two scholarships are part of an ongoing effort by the Friends group to help support music education in local schools.
The Friends of Music is a Shepherdstown-based, non-profit organization that was founded in 1999 to support and promote musical excellence. It supports the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, the only professional chamber music orchestra in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, and one of only three of such orchestras in the state.