A special scholarship was awarded to a talented young vocalist.
Naperville Central senior Bianca Schramm is graduating on a high note, as she’s the recipient of the fifth annual John Pearce Performing Arts Scholarship.
“I began in fourth grade and it’s been the biggest passion of my life,” said Schramm. “It’s what I enjoy waking up in the morning for. So when I heard about this scholarship I thought it was a great opportunity. Even as a sophomore I knew it was something I wanted to do when I was a senior.”
Who Was John Pearce?
The $1000 scholarship was established to honor former music chair and teacher John Pearce.
“He was our choir director for 22 years. It was his career here at Naperville Central. And he was the department chair as well, and he was a prolific teacher. He was very influential so we wanted to have a living memory of him through this scholarship,” explained Raeleen Horn, the steering committee chair for the scholarship program.
The Naperville Education Foundation funded the award.
Singing at School
With her scholarship in hand, Bianca hopes to pursue a dual degree in creative writing and vocal performance in college this fall.
You can also check out our previous story we did on the scholarship winner back in 2015.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.