Cellist Zoe Walts was presented with the third annual John Pearce Performing Arts Scholarship at Naperville Central’s final orchestra concert of the year.
“I feel really happy, it’s kind of an affirmation of all the hard work I put into cello throughout my whole career as a musician has kind of paid off in a way,” said Walts.
The $1,000 scholarship is given to an outstanding senior who has participated in the music programs at Naperville Central, and has been selected by a panel through an application and audition process.
The award itself was created by a group of central alumni, in honor of their beloved teacher John Pearce.
“John was a prolific teacher of ours,” said chair of the steering committee for the John Pearce Performing Arts Scholarship, Raeleen Horn. “He was the choral director, he was the music department chair here at Naperville Central High School for 22 years and a group of alumni students got together and decided we should have a living memory of John in the form of a scholarship.
These funds will be used to help Zoe participate in music programs at Lake Forest College.
Zoe will major in neuroscience, with a minor in French language.
Naperville News 17’s Evan Summers reports.