Today, the charter school seventh-grader is the proud owner of a gently used, professional Yamaha alto saxophone valued at about $2,000. The instrument was a family donation made by an official with the local Houston Masonic Library and Museum Foundation and Freemason Authors.
Chris Martin, whose group hosts the scholarship, presented the saxophone to Jocelyn at Cornerstone Academy earlier this fall. He was joined at the Spring Valley school campus by James Passamano, who is chairman with the Mozart Hammond Music Scholarship.
Jocelyn originally applied for the Mozart Hammond Scholarship with help from her music instructor, Stephen Bundrick. As a district charter campus with its own operating rules, the Cornerstone Academy music program is neither funded nor supported through the district’s Fine Arts Department.
As a consequence, Bundrick often visits eBay and local pawn shops so his music students like Jocelyn have adequate quality instruments for practice and performance.
In her scholarship application, Jocelyn said the $300 grant would help her buy her own personal saxophone. She played on one of Bundrick’s older instruments before the special donation.
The Mozart Hammond Music Scholarship Awards are awarded through the Masonic Library and Museum Foundation to elementary and middle school students. The scholarship funds are linked to past founding of the Houston Conservatory of Music in 1917. Today, the Spring Branch-Memorial Rotary Club is also a chief sponsor of the scholarship.
Jocelyn was named a scholarship winner with 14 other students, but wasn’t able to attend the initial award ceremony earlier this fall.
When music instructor Bundrick emailed Passamano about her absence, the scholarship chair replied that the group wanted to give Jocelyn a high quality saxophone, not a $300 donation. On Oct. 24, Passamano and Martin presented the Martin family’s sax to a deeply thankful Jocelyn.
Martin said that he wanted to “lovingly pass this on to Jocelyn to help her continue her musical endeavors,” Bundrick reports.
In separate but related news, recent voter approval of the 2017 Bond will help replace aged student musical instruments and uniforms for campus programs.
For more information, visit Mozart Hammond Music Scholarship Award.
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