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A great music foundation
Kristin Schrag is graduating in a month, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be closing her books. Or her music case.
The senior music education major plans to be a band director at the middle school or high school level. While she has prepared for her future career, she has made a name for herself in the academic and musical arenas.
President Joanne Glasser with Kristin Schrag, recipient of the 2008-2009 Theodore Presser Foundation Scholarship.
Kristin was awarded the 2008-2009 Theodore Presser Foundation Scholarship. This award is given to an outstanding music major at, or after, the end of his or her junior year to recognize outstanding musical skill. The music department decides on the student who exudes the most excellence in music and music education. The Presser Award is the most prestigious award Bradley gives a student in the field of music.
Kristin is a horn major who also sings in the Women’s Choir. She has performed with the Symphonic Winds, the Basketball Band, and the Bradley Symphony Orchestra. Off campus, she has volunteered her talents with the Peoria Municipal Band and the Muscatine Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Kristin also gives private lessons, both honing her instructing skills and passing on enthusiasm for music.
"More than anything, it's just an honor to be chosen and a source of pride that my professors thought so much of me to choose me for something like this," she said.
The merit-based award comes from the Presser Foundation and is funded through the will and deeds of trust from founder Theodore Presser, a philanthropist with a passion for music education. Presser formed the foundation in 1916, and it has continually changed the lives of upcoming music instructors, performers, business types and more. The foundation gives the awards to students through grants donated to institutions such as Bradley. Music department faculty then decides on the award recipient. For almost forty years, Bradley has had the honor of distributing the Presser Award to promising students such as Kristin.
This semester, Kristin is student teaching at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, a northwest suburb of Chicago. The Presser Scholarship funds have helped her with her living expenses while she gains valuable experience at Hersey High.
The Presser Scholarship has given opportunities for many more students like Kristin to pursue their dreams both while at Bradley University and after.