DENVER, CO – The Blue Knights Percussion Ensemble is proud to announce their Scholarship Recipients for the 2018-2019 year!
Alumni Scholarship: Joshua Griego
This Blue Knights Alumni Scholarship was established by the Alumni Association in 2017, which include alumni from the Blue Knights Drum & Bugle Corps, Blue Knights Percussion Ensemble, and Blue Knights Winds competitive ensembles.
The Blue Knights Alumni Association has sponsored fundraisers and sold legacy equipment so that future Blue Knights in need of financial assistance would be able to have an education for life whether through the demands of the drum corps or the percussion ensemble experience.
Del & Dinah Owens Scholarship: Xan Cordova
Del was a percussionist and so the Owens were great advocates of making each Percussion Ensemble member and their families a part of the Blue Knights. They reached out to make members feel welcome, developed awareness of resources available and were very generous in giving out “Atta boy or girls!” They considered Blue Knights as their “family” and the members their “children”!
Renaissance Scholarship – Olivia Arjona & Nikki Saiz
Therefore this scholarship’s goal is to help members who request financial assistance and have marched in a Drum Corps International drum corps. The donor for this scholarship wants to remain anonymous but is aware of the hard work and time commitment individuals need to place in order to perform their best.
Many times, this leaves little or no time for employment in order to raise funds. The donor hopes that the scholarship aid will remove the pressure to pay fees and give members the time to prepare for the percussion show.
Keith Nygaard Memorial Scholarship – Jamal Blassingale & Matt Boyle
By request of his parents, Rick and Cheryl Nygaard, the Keith Nygaard Memorial Scholarship was established in 2017 for the Blue Knights Percussion Ensemble. Keith was a member of the Doherty High School Marching Band in Colorado Springs where he led young new musicians in the art of marching music.
He continued his passion as a performer for the Blue Knights Percussion Ensemble in 2012 and aged-out in 2015. Keith graduated the Colorado School of Mines where he majored in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science.
His family wanted Keith’s legacy in music to continue by helping talented members such as you, who indicated a financial need, to be able to march and reap the benefits of being a member of the Blue Knights Percussion Ensemble. According to his friends, Keith was “an incredible musician who brought so much joy to this world by inspiring hundreds of young marching musicians to follow their dreams.”
∴ For more about the Blue Knights Percussion Ensemble, visit HERE!