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Campus Review
October 8, 2014
Abigail Jenkins Selected as a Winner of the
2014 Atlanta Steinway Society Scholarship Award
by Siera Blasco
Clayton State University Honors student
and Presidential Scholar Abigail Jenkins,
a junior double-major in Music
Performance and Math Secondary
Education, has been selected as one of
three winners of this year’s Atlanta
Steinway Society Scholarship Award.
Jenkins, a graduate of Woodland High
School who resides in Stockbridge, Ga.,
will receive a $1,000 scholarship and the
Freddy Cole Trophy, in honor of Bob
Geer. Since 1980, non-profit Atlanta
Steinway Society has been advocating
young music enthusiasts to further their
higher education through scholarships and
to bring music events to the community.
Jenkins will perform piano music by
Bach, Mozart and Debussy at the Atlanta
Steinway Society’s winners’ recital con-
cert on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 4 p.m. The
Former “Designated Singer” Premiers on
Radio; Prepares to Record Her First Album
Clayton State University’s former
“Designated Singer,” Stockbridge native
Kelly Jarrard, has recently premiered her
original song, titled “Soul Easy,” on
Florida’s radio waves. Her first album will
be recorded in October of this year.
While Clayton State is full of talents, not
all talents have the same drive as Jarrard.
During her years at the University, she
would sing at a myriad of events, includ-
ing Christmas parties, staff gatherings,
and commencements. She was also the
leader in the Clayton State Chorale for
four years, a frequent vocal soloist and
guitarist with the Clayton State Jazz
Combo and Big Band, and participated in
roles with the Music Drama Workshop.
“Some days I would sing at an event in the
morning, be in class all day, find time to
practice, then in the evening have to per-
form in a concert that same day,” Jarrard,
currently a resident of Umatilla, Fla.,
says. “Every event that I sang at gave me
an opportunity to sing at another event.”
Pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Voice
Performance was both a humbling and
confidence building experience for
Jarrard. She walked in knowing more
musically than her average peers, but still
had so much to learn.
Education at Clayton State University
allowed Jarrard to discover new talents,
like dancing and acting, and sharpen the
ones she had already found. She uses the
techniques for warming up and singing
that she had learned for every perform-
ance, and the lesson to keep on following
her dreams in every part of her life.
Clayton State staff members like Dr. Kurt-
Alexander Zeller, coordinator of the
Division of Music and director of Opera
and Vocal Studies, encouraged Jarrard to,
“make her dreams a bit bigger — and then
make those bigger dreams real.”
Jarrard’s first radio show was on Aug. 21,
2014, “FOCUS Live!” on 790 AM broad-
casting out of Leesburg, Fla.
Jarrard is a 2013 grad from Zeller’s stu-
dio. He notes that Clayton State audiences
will indeed remember her from many per-
formances, including Music Drama
Workshop productions as Mad Margaret
in Ruddigore and the Bad Angel in Eve’s
Odds, as well as her frequent performanc-
es with the Jazz Combo and Community
Big Band and her many solo performanc-
es at university ceremonies.
event, free of charge, will be held at the
Kellett Chapel of Peachtree Presbyterian
Church, 3434 Roswell Rd., Atlanta, fol-
lowed by a reception. For more informa-
tion, contact Dr. Michiko Otaki in the
Clayton State Division of Music at
michikootaki@clayton.edu or (678) 466-
4756.
mentor them on a semester-long research
project that I introduced to them I feel
pretty fulfilled!
“I think it is pretty amazing that Clayton
State University and donors, such as
Heritage Bank, recognize faculty who are
passionate about teaching, mentoring and
inspiring undergraduate students so they
can make their dreams real.”
Furlong’s Heritage Bank University
Professorship was initially presented by
past Clayton State University Foundation
Chair Leonard Moreland. Awarded facul-
ty will carry the title of, “University
Professor,” for two years allowing up to
12 faculty to have the distinction at any
given time. This recognition comes with a
$5,000 annual salary supplement. The
Clayton State University Foundation
assisted in creating the monetary supple-
ment by creating a matching dollar-for-
dollar gifts program.
Furlong, cont’d. from p. 5