Sigma Alpha Iota

2014 PHILANTHROPIES AWARDS sAI-NATIONAL.ORg FALL 2014 PAN PIPES 23 C a r e e r p e r f o r m a N C e g r a N t i n M e M o r y o f V e r n a r o s s o r n d o r f f ( $ 5 , 0 0 0 ) c h a r i s s a e . b a r G e r a l p h a i n i t i a t e , U n i v e r s i t y o f M i C h i g a n , a l p h a a , r e g i o n v i i m u s i C e d u C a t i o N s C h o l a r s h i p f o r g r a d u a t e s t u d e N t s i n M e M o r y o f M a b e l b i e V e r ( $ 1 , 5 0 0 ) c a r l y h u h n i n t e r n a t i o n a l C h a p t e r To study at University of St. omas during pursuit of a Masters of Arts in Music Education with an emphasis in the Kodály Method. i m pa C t p r o j e C t g r a N t K a t h e r i n e F e l t h a u s e r e p s i l o n i o t a , U n i v e r s i t y o f t e n n e s s e e a t M a r t i n , p s i C , r e g i o n i v C harissa Barger has established herself as an inspiring performing artist and dedicated arts educator in Southern California. Her technical mastery and expressive playing of the harp keep her in high demand as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Her performance at the 2012 National SAI Convention in Atlanata was extremely well received. As an ambassador for new music, Charissa has premiered numerous works, collaborated with composers and performed for innovative concerts and recordings. She is an enthusiastic educator and seeks to use music as a tool to help students reach their high potentials. Charissa currently lives in Los Angeles where she is a candidate for the Master's of Music degree at the University of Southern California. She received an Artist Diploma from the prestigious Colburn Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor's of Music degree from the University of Michigan, where she was a Rogel scholar. e selection committee, chaired by Dr. Paula Neihouse Moseman, Career Performance Grant Director, is confident that Charissa's career is one the Fraternity's members will enjoy following. T he Epsilon Iota Chapter explained in their application that a new Community Music School (CMS) for the rural area surrounding Martin, Tennessee is being established. Over 20% of the county residents live in poverty and one of the nation's ten poorest counties is less than an hour from Martin. Located more than two hours from the nearest large city, very few area middle- and high-school students have the opportunity to take music lessons and oen miss out on opportunities like honor festivals and the preliminary preparations necessary for entering college as music majors. e Epsilon Iota Chapter is working with the faculty at the University of Tennessee-Martin to improve this situation. is Impact Project Grant will help cover start-up costs for the school, and SAI members will donate volunteer administrative hours, coordinate recruitment endeavors, and organize a CMS recital every semester. Teachers will come from the UTM studio faculty and selected UTM students, with music lesson prices set as low as possible while still remaining fair to the CMS teachers. is grant will allow 100% of the lesson prices to go to the teachers, with no overhead costs for the Community School of Music.

• Cover