12 Students Awarded D’Addario Foundation College Scholarship

Jennifer Calderon (left), Maria-Simone Williams (top), Carla Salas (bottom), Allen Bryant (right)

The D’Addario Foundation is pleased to announce 12 outstanding students in the 2022 class of D’Addario Foundation College Scholarship Recipients.

After participating in robust community music programs such as OrchKids, Play on Philly, and Laby Harmony Project for ten years on-average, each student is graduating and advancing onto the next chapter – ten being the first generation in their families to attend college.

In 2018, the D’Addario Foundation established this fund to support the distribution of merit & need-based scholarships to socio-economically disadvantaged youth who have studied music in DF grantee organizations for multiple years, show great promise, but lack the resources to attend college or trade school after high school. The D’Addario Foundation College Scholarship Program now serves four cohorts of 43 students; of these students, 35 are the first generation in their families to attend college.

Carla Salas, a 2022 D’Addario Foundation Scholarship Recipient from long-time grantee New City Kids reflects on the impact of participating in this program. “New City Kids picks up people who don’t have much all around our community; they give us a voice and make us feel important. They go out and search for those people in need. You honestly feel loved and cared for. If it wasn’t for New City, I wouldn’t be where I am right now, wouldn’t be hanging around with the right crew, and wouldn’t be focusing much on my future. But because of them, I’m actually going to go to college and study something that I love…I’m going to be the first one in my whole family to ever go to college.”

The 2022 Class of the D’Addario Foundation College Scholarship Program includes:

• Allen Bryan: Laby Harmony Project – Ventura, CA – Ventura College
• Carla Salas: New City Kids – Jersey City, NJ – New Jersey City University
• Elijah Brown: Ravinia Jazz Scholars – Chicago, IL – University of Illinois, Chicago
• Jackie Moreno: Latino Arts Strings Program – Milwaukee, WI – Marquette University
• Jelil Missouri: OrchKids – Baltimore, MD – Columbia College, Chicago
• Jennifer Calderon: Ascenté Chamber Orchestra – Copiague, NY – Rowan University
• Johnathan Campbell: Intonation Music – Chicago, IL – Elmhurst University
• Juan Munoz: Merit School of Music – Chicago, IL – Wilbur Wright Community College
• Katia Campo: Play on Philly – Philadelphia, PA – Temple University
• Maria-Simone Williams: OrchKids – Catonsville, MD – Middle Tennessee State University
• Nerelly Mendoza: Merit School of Music – Chicago, IL – DePaul University
• Quetzaly Ferrales: Harmony Project Phoenix – Phoenix, AZ – Grand Canyon University

These scholarship recipients exemplify the D’Addario Foundation’s mission; their dedication & hard work allowed them to benefit from robust, continuous music education & mentorship and has helped nurture their positive development. They are truly ambassadors of the work the D’Addario Foundation does.

The D’Addario Foundation Scholarship Program is made possible thanks to the generosity of Rita & Herbert Z. Gold Charitable Trust and the compassion of Janet D’Addario.

To learn more about the Foundation’s College Scholarship Program, please visit https://ddar.io/Scholarship2022.