Feels GWU faculty’s ongoing support as she teaches music

“For a fresh-out-of-college employee, it helps to have a support system to call upon when you do not know how to word a paper for a supervisor, need a reference for a master’s program, or have a question about life in general. That is what makes the �۶�ֱ�� music program so unique in comparison to other schools, because it is a lifetime of friends and family who will support you and help you reach the next level in your career.”

A band of musicians and instruments filled Bonnie Scruggs’ childhood home near �۶�ֱ�� University. Her father, Johnny, was a high school drum major, and her mother, Pam, played piano and wrote songs. Earl Scruggs, the late legendary banjo musician from Cleveland County, N.C., was her third cousin. At the age of two, Bonnie started playing the piano herself.

“The instruments we had were my toys as a kid,” she recalled. “I didn’t play video games. We didn’t have TV. My mom and dad knew instantly that I was a music kid.”

When it came time to choose a home for her college education, Scruggs picked �۶�ֱ��. From all of the colleges she explored, GWU and Professor of Music Dr. Patricia Sparti were the only music department that told her she could major with four concentrations. She planned to study piano and cello with emphases on education and performance with both instruments, which she teaches to young students, in addition to guitar.

While offering classes to children in her home, serving in music and youth ministries in her local church and joining with a variety of ensembles for performances in the surrounding community and beyond, Scruggs studied full time at �۶�ֱ��. And she graduated with more than 200 hours of undergraduate coursework in three major concentrations.

“In all of my classes at �۶�ֱ��, in and out of the music department, I had the opportunity to ask questions and be recognized as a curious learner,” Scruggs shared. “I’m grateful for that freedom.”

After completing her bachelor’s degree, Scruggs became band director at Crest High School in Boiling Springs, where she leads the marching, concert and jazz bands, offers piano and guitar classes and assists with the Crest Middle School band program. She continues to direct her church choirs and give music lessons in a private studio.

“I do what I do in music because it’s a God-given talent,” Scruggs reflected. “I play at church on Sundays, and it’s the way I worship and connect with God. Music is my ‘me’ time. It’s my spiritual time.”

Scruggs said the time she spent at �۶�ֱ�� offered her unique opportunities to learn and grow, as a musician, an educator and a person. “My experiences at the University helped prepare me for building strong relationships with my administration, colleagues and students,” she explained. “�۶�ֱ��’s faculty and staff were great role models for how to inspire, support and care for students and, because of their influences, I have also been able to inspire my students to do great things.”

Among achievements she’s already reached with her many students, Scruggs performed with the Shelby High School orchestra at the renowned Strathmore Music Center in Maryland. And her Crest marching band has garnered numerous awards at competitions in western North Carolina. Through that success, she continues to feel the encouragement and guidance of her mentors from the GWU faculty.

“Many of my professors at �۶�ֱ�� have come to my classroom to work with my students and to concerts to show their support for me and my new program,” Scruggs shared. “For a fresh-out-of-college employee, it helps to have a support system to call upon when you do not know how to word a paper for a supervisor, need a reference for a master’s program, or have a question about life in general.

“That is what makes the �۶�ֱ�� music program so unique in comparison to other schools, because it is a lifetime of friends and family who will support you and help you reach the next level in your career. The music professors make sure each graduate has a plan, knows how to write a great resume and how to get back in touch if we need anything. �۶�ֱ�� does not shut the door behind you when you leave. It opens the doors to help you for the rest of your life.”

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�۶�ֱ�� helped alumnus earn degrees in Music Education and Composition

“I had access to quality professors in a setting that allowed us to get up close and personal with the material presented as well as the practical applications that would come after graduation.”

Peter Strickland, a 1997 alumnus of �۶�ֱ�� University, is an educator because of an intuitive professor at a state college. He was a music business major, but the professor said he was “too giving” when role-playing contract negotiations. “I was more concerned about the people in the room than I was about getting the best deal,” Strickland recalled. “My professor pulled me to the side and asked me if I had ever thought about being a teacher.”

When he switched majors, Strickland also decided to transfer to GWU, where the Department of Music was willing to work with the credits he had. “�۶�ֱ�� was flexible enough to allow me to earn a double major in the time it would have taken me to receive a single degree from a state school,” Strickland observed.

He earned degrees in music education and music composition with minors in professional education and business administration. He liked the smaller classes and Christian environment at GWU. “Some of the classes in my major had three to seven students in the room,” Strickland described. “My experiences were more like apprenticeships than courses. I had access to quality professors in a setting that allowed us to get up close and personal with the material presented as well as the practical applications that would come after graduation. Having Christian professors who encouraged prayer in the classroom, especially before exams, allowed me to live out my faith while taking my education seriously.”

Strickland began his career in 1997 with Cleveland County (N.C.) Schools and founded the orchestra programs at two middle schools. In 1999, he became the director of the orchestra programs at Crest Middle and Crest High School in Shelby, N.C., and in 2000 joined Crest High exclusively. His students participate in All-County, Western Regional and All-State Orchestra events. Many choose to major in music education, performance, composition, and production at the collegiate level. “Teaching students from ninth to 12th grade, you can really see the change in their skill level and maturity,” Strickland assessed. “By the time we get to that final concert, the students have grown into their musicianship which allows them to play some really good music.”

Strickland is certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and has received several honors over the years. In 2010, he transcribed and arranged Earl Scruggs’ bluegrass classic, “Flint Hill Special,” for bluegrass band and orchestra as part of the Smithsonian’s American Roots concert series performed by the GWU Orchestra. He has also served as a guest clinician and conductor for orchestra programs across the state. In 2017, he received the Western Regional Orchestra Director of the Year award from the North Carolina Music Educators Association.

Each year, Strickland brings a group of his orchestra students to play in a concert with the Gardner-Webb Orchestra. “Participating in the GWU concerts gives my students the opportunity to experience world-class music alongside professors who are at the top of their field,” he asserted. “The GWU orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Patricia Sparti, has opened many doors for my students to perform repertoire that would be inaccessible otherwise. I am truly grateful for Dr. Sparti’s generosity in sharing those experiences with my students.”

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Couple who met at �۶�ֱ�� University share a passion to serve others

“�۶�ֱ�� helped prepare me (for graduate school) by giving me a solid foundation in music. I grew as a person and developed a solid work ethic at GWU that I was able to take with me to graduate school.”

Military wives often wonder what they will do while their husband is deployed. The answer for Hannah Currin Keller, a 2012 alumna of �۶�ֱ�� University, was to follow God’s direction. Hannah is volunteering in West Africa for 9 months, while her husband, Jake, a 2013 GWU alumnus, spends the next year serving in Iraq with the 878th National Guard Engineering Company based out of Kings Mountain, N.C.

Hannah left her job as a nurse in outpatient surgery at Watauga Medical Center in Boone, N.C., to care for people in Mango, Togo. “I felt the Lord leading me to step out in faith and see what opportunities were available to serve in medical missions,” she related. “I found Hospital of Hope through Samaritan’s Purse World Medical Mission. I saw they have a desperate need for nurses. It was hard to leave my familiar home and wonderful workplace to go to an unknown environment, but I knew I was doing what God wanted me to do.”   

Hospital of Hope is a 66-bed Christian hospital that needs volunteer nurses to serve until all the Togolese nurses are trained. Hannah will be working in the adult and pediatric wards and the intensive care units. Since opening in 2015, the hospital has treated and shared the gospel with 11,500 patients.

Jake, a native of Gaffney, S.C., and Hannah, originally from Rolesville, N.C., chose to attend �۶�ֱ��, because the University’s Christian values aligned with their own. They were introduced by mutual friends and were drawn to each other’s desire to serve others and honor God. They were married a semester before Jake graduated in 2013.

Both Jake and Hannah appreciated when their GWU professors prayed before tests or at the start of class. They were also inspired by the support and advice their professors gave. Hannah felt well-prepared for her first nursing job, and Jake was challenged to pursue a different career path. His degree was in music performance, but his GWU piano instructor, Janey Pease, suggested he consider additional studies in music therapy.

“If not for her, I may not have taken the leap to go on to graduate school. She believed I could and that is what prompted me to apply,” Jake affirmed. “�۶�ֱ�� helped prepare me by giving me a solid foundation in music. I grew as a person and developed a solid work ethic at GWU that I was able to take with me to graduate school.”

While pursuing his master’s degree, Jake joined the National Guard. “The educational incentives assisted with payment of student loans, and I also had a strong desire to serve my country and give back,” he asserted. “I believe that was instilled in me by attending �۶�ֱ�� and seeing the many ways the school gives back to the community. Being in the National Guard allowed me the opportunity to serve, gain valuable experience, and continue my education.”

After completing an internship in hospice and palliative care, Jake became a board-certified music therapist and received a second bachelor’s degree in music therapy from Appalachian State University in Boone. He has completed one semester toward his master’s degree and will finish when he returns from Iraq. While deployed, he will give guitar lessons, develop his repertoire, assist in chapel and share his music in other ways. “I will also record data on how I utilize music while on deployment,” Jake informed. “I hope to share this data with other music therapists in order to strengthen what we know about how music therapy can be used when working with veterans.”

On the days when Jake and Hannah feel discouraged or lonely because of their 5,000-mile separation, the couple will rely on their faith. “Prayer and knowing that the Lord will be by our side during the entire process gives me strength to endure any possible threat or danger that may come our way,” Jake declared. “There may be prolonged times that my wife and I may not talk to each other, but I believe that we will be able to have peace within and be able to trust the Lord to direct our paths as we are temporarily separated in different parts of the world.” 

Hannah added that she will claim God’s promise in her favorite scripture verse, II Corinthians 12:9: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I may boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

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“I can honestly say that every professor in the music department has made some impact on my life, whether they know it or not.”

During his last semester at �۶�ֱ�� University, Chris Coffey ’17 worked with one of the top music businesses in the country. As an intern at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., he worked directly with professional musicians, and helped schedule concerts for the Youth Fellowship program. “I constantly learned about arts administration and the practices of a successful arts organization,” shared the Morganton, N.C., resident. “I could not praise the staff at the Kennedy Center enough. Everyone was kind, helpful, and willing to share their immense knowledge of the industry.”

Coffey also developed organizational and multitasking skills, which are crucial to his new job as education and community engagement coordinator for the Western Piedmont Symphony (WPS) in Hickory, N.C. Coffey is responsible for scheduling various events, including educational concerts for the orchestra, community events for the string quartet and concerts for the youth symphony. They play for large and small audiences, adults and children. Coffey has also planned travel arrangements to Germany for four members of the youth symphony.

“This job has been a huge step up in responsibility for me,” he said. “Sometimes it can be very challenging, but I work with a dedicated team of people who inspire me to improve myself every day. The greatest motivator for me is to see the positive impact that our programs make in the community. I hope to continue spreading goodwill and making a difference in people’s lives through music.”

Aside from planning events, he has learned to write grant applications. Ingrid Keller, WPS Executive Director, has taught him about how nonprofit organizations fund their projects and receive support from charitable foundations. “Grant writing is an important skill to develop in the arts industry,” Coffey affirmed. “Under Ingrid’s wing, I have been fortunate enough to write several successful applications, receiving financial support for some of my projects.”

Coffey believes his education along with the hands-on experience he received at the Kennedy Center gave him the foundation he needed for the work he does every day. “Understanding music and its importance in our community allows me to write genuine and compelling requests to support our programs,” Coffey explained. “My business classes gave me all the tools I need to work effectively in the office.”

He was very active in the GWU music department, playing horn and mellophone in the orchestra, the Marching Bulldogs, Symphonic Band, and Broad River Brass. �۶�ֱ�� offered a Community School of Music, and the Department of Music often collaborated with local musicians and groups, allowing him to see the importance of developing partnerships.

His GWU music professors also used their connections to help him find the internship. Dr. Patricia Sparti, professor of music, and Jondra Harmon, instructor of music, helped him with the application process and recommended him to the Kennedy Center. Dr. Bruce Moser, assistant professor of music, helped him prepare his writing sample. Coffey noted, “I can honestly say that every professor in the music department has made some impact on my life, whether they know it or not.”

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