A $166,000 gift will establish the Doris Jean Kahn Music Scholarship Endowment, supporting music students through an annual competition.
When Doris Jean Kahn arrived in Pensacola in 1946, she was already an experienced musician. She expressed her devotion to the art by joining the Pensacola Music Study Club and supporting the Pensacola Symphony and Pensacola Opera.
A special interest of hers was the Pensacola Music Study Club's scholarship competition for teens. The competition, hosted by the university, provides $1,000 scholarships to students between the ages of 14 and 19. The categories are strings, piano juniors, piano seniors, woodwind/brass and voice. Runners-up in each category receive an award of $200.
Dr. Sheila Dunn, chair of the UWF Department of Music, received one of those scholarships. "The Music Study Club's scholarship competition is near and dear to my heart," Dunn said. She won the Doris Jean Kahn scholarship in 1994 as a junior in high school and used the funding to attend Interlochen Summer Arts Camp. "Without question," she says, "that summer experience was the beginning of my journey toward becoming a professional musician. I am absolutely thrilled that the scholarship competition will live on to inspire future generations of young musicians."
The next scholarship competition will be held March 16th, 2019. It will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Pensacola Music Study Club.
Kahn's daughter, Dottie Kahn Galloway, said, "My mother enjoyed and studied music all her life. She would be so pleased to know her legacy continues through a scholarship endowment in her memory that encourages young music students in pursuit of excellence in performance."
UWF leaders say the endowment, given by the Robert H. Kahn, Jr. Family Foundation, will allow the competition and the scholarships to continue in perpetuity.
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