2007 Award Winners

Four Religious Music Students
Earn $2,500 Scholarships

[Hamilton, Ohio, May 15, 2007]   The National Religious Music Week Alliance has awarded four $2,500 scholarships to college students studying for the ministry of music, Kevin Samblanet, co-chair of the Scholarship Committee, announced today.

Winners of the awards for the 2007-2008 school year are Annie  R. Kaschube  and Anne Kirk Laver, both of Rochester, NY; Amanda R. Mole, Holden, MA; and Krista Leigh Wilhelmsen, Columbia, SC.  Three of the young women are graduate students studying the organ at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester.  The fourth, Ms. Wilhelmsen, attends the University of South Carolina and is studying for a masters degree in voice.

Ms. Kaschube is an NRMWA scholarship winner for the second consecutive year, having also won in 2006.  A graduate of Baldwin Wallace College Conservatory of Music in Ohio with a major in music therapy, she was on the Dean’s list for eight consecutive semesters.  She currently serves as organist for the Webster Presbyterian Church in Webster, NY, and is editor of the organ department newsletter.

She is a member of Alpha Lambda honorary music society and was a scholarship winner of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship. Of her work Annie says:  “I look forward to a lifetime of serving the Church.  It is an arduous task, but it fills me with commitment.  Most importantly, I believe I can help the Church connect with men and women as a community of faith.” Ms. Kaschube is a member of the Ebenezer Methodist Church, Galion, OH.

Ms. Laver has completed her Master’s degree in organ at the Eastman School and is now studying for a Doctorate in Musical Arts.  “I want to learn more about managing adult and children’s choirs--and it is a dream of mine to fashion a children’s outreach program through my church that would engage inner city young people,” she says.  Ms. Laver is currently music director and organist for the Episcopalian Church of St. Luke and St. Simon in Rochester.

Her undergraduate studies included work at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and Leiden University in the Netherlands before she earned her BA degree at Brown University in Rhode Island.  She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, honorary scholastic society.  Ms. Laver is a member of St. Luke and St. Simon Cyrene Episcopal Church, Rochester, NY.

The third scholarship winner at the Eastman school is Amanda Mole, who won her first NRMWA award in 2006.   Ms. Mole is a member of the First Baptist Church in Holden, MA.   She studied at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she won the Chancellor’s Talent Award and the Hitchcock Scholarship.   Her educational goal is to gain a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the School of Sacred Music at Yale University. Amanda has taught piano and has served as organist at the Old First Church in Springfield,  and now serves as a volunteer pianist and organist in the Rochester area.

She says:  “For me, music sets the tone of the worship service.  Being able to involve the congregation with rousing hymns, cherub, youth and adult choirs, or tone chime and bell choirs is a sharing of faith.  Inspiration can come from the Word spoken in service or from strong hymn singing and heartfelt choral work.”  Ms. Mole is a member of the First Baptist Church, Holden, MA.

Krista Wilhelmsen graduated from Millikin University, Decatur, IL, with a BA degree in music and served as a cantor at several Roman Catholic churches in the Boston Archdiocese while also directing a children’s choir.  Feeling called to the music ministry, she returned to college this year to earn a Master’s degree in voice.  At the University of South Carolina she has won the university’s Concerto Competition and has had two leads in the university’s operas while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average.

“I believe that church music should inspire and bring joy to the congregation as well as the musicians,” she says. “I also hope to develop children’s music groups in order to foster their love of music and worship.”

“We’re extremely proud of this year’s group of scholarship winners,”  Mrs. Everhart said.  “They’re indicative of the high quality of men and women who are going into the ministry of music today, and we are glad to be able to provide this kind of support for the future of church music”

To date $35,000 has been granted to religious music students throughout the country. Announcement of 2008 scholarships will be made on our website in January, 2008.