Four students in diocesan schools have been awarded Gertrude C. Kuehefuhs music scholarships.
Outstanding instrumental and choral music students receive the $250 awards to help them pay Catholic high school or college tuition. Two scholarships are awarded to high school seniors, and two to eighth-graders.
Kuehefuhs was a longtime member of the Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral choir and a music teacher at Ohio State University. The awards are made possible from a gift received from her estate.
High School Instrumental Music
Lucia Cherok
Lucia Cherok, a Columbus Bishop Watterson High School graduate, was in the school’s marching, concert and jazz bands for four years. The trombone is her principal instrument, and she takes percussion and piano lessons.
She received a superior rating for her solo in the Ohio Music Education Association solo and ensemble concert as a junior. She was in the pit orchestra for the school’s production of Beauty and the Beast as a senior and helped the middle school honor band from Watterson’s feeder schools before the pandemic shut it down.
She also was a member of the school’s swim team and Student Council and volunteered at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. She has auditioned for the Canton Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps, has participated in the Ohio State University Marching Band’s summer sessions and high school honor weekend and will try out for the band in August.
She will major in music education at Ohio State in hopes of becoming a high school band director.
High School Choral Music
Charles Easley
Charles Easley, a Columbus Bishop Ready High School graduate, is a baritone who has been part of school, community and professional theater productions for the past four years. He also has been active in helping inner-city children at the Run the Race Club on Columbus’ west side and as a Columbus Recreation and Parks Department volunteer.
His other school activities included Student Council, the Future Business Leaders of America, the Castle Crew and serving as an altar server and an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist. He hopes to attend Capital University and obtain a degree in education so he can help troubled young people, using art as an outlet.
Elementary Instrumental Music
Sarah Seidu
Sarah Seidu, who will attend Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School in the fall, began playing the piccolo in the school’s marching and concert bands during the past academic year while attending eighth grade at Columbus St. Matthias School.
She had been playing the flute in that school’s band since fifth grade and has been teaching herself the guitar for the past two years. In addition, she has been a voice student at Leppanen Music Academy and Encore Music Studios and received a certificate in modeling and television from the John Casablancas modeling and talent agency.
She has been on the St. Matthias School dance and track teams, was awarded first place in the school’s political cartoon contest and was a gift bearer, altar server, lector and cantor at school Masses. She hopes to study medicine in college and become an oncologist while retaining her involvement in music.
Elementary Choral Music
Cameron Wilson
Cameron Wilson will be attending Columbus Bishop Ready High School in the fall after being involved in school musicals and other choral activities, serving as a cantor and being a member of the handbell choir at Reynoldsburg St. Pius X School for the past five years.
He was in the national choir of the Organization of American Kodaly Educators in 2019 and has taken part in 18 musical productions for his school, Columbus Children’s Theatre, Pickerington Community Theatre, Star Performance Academy and other organizations.
He also was a member of the school’s Drama Club and Beta Club, served as a library and food pantry volunteer and was a Boy Scout.