Scholarship Sketches

Student Conductor Workshop participants

Front (L-R) Emma Sivestri (St. Olaf College), Sophie Kessel (College of St. Scholastica), Casi Sas (Winona State University), and Jenna Altonen (College of St. Scholastica)
Back (LR) Dr. Mike McGaghie (Macalester College), Jakob Waller (St. John’s University), Joe Koroll (Concordia College), Sam Sadlowsky (Concordia College), Dr. Stephen Kingsbury (Southwest Minnesota State University)

Jakob Waller

I would love to thank the FMC Endowment Fund and Gateway Travel for this scholarship and experience at the 2024 ACDA Summer Dialogue. I personally gained an immense amount of knowledge from this experience. I had the wonderful opportunity to work with other amazing upcoming directors as well as current directors and gained many helpful tips and comments. I feel so privileged to have been able to be part of this experience and will be continuing my dream to become a great choral director using the knowledge I gained from this conference.

Sophie Kessel

Thank you FMC Endowment Fund and Gateway Travel for providing an unmatched experience for the future choral music educators! Your kindness provided us with supports to provide us to take part in such a wonderful experience not only in conducting, but getting to partake in sessions and network with other choral music educators. Your generosity is appreciated! It was a great experience for me to be able to see other students conduct and learn from not only current music educators, but also my peers as I enter into my first teaching job this fall in Duluth.