Don Snowden, Department Head and Director of Bands, is the State Advisor for the Music Division of the Florida Community College Activities Association. He is also the President of the National Association of Concert Bands.

The faculty and staff at Pensacola Junior College Department of Music and Theatre are pleased to announce that sophomore guitar major, Mitchell Smegelski, is the top prizewinner in the classical guitar division of the 2008 Florida Community College Activity Association’s Music Student Artist Competition. The competition, held at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 24, is part of the F.C.C.A.A.’s annual Winter Music Symposium. Students compete and perform with other students from community colleges throughout the state of Florida in the annual symposium, which features master classes, workshops, lectures, solo and ensemble performances, and the music student artist competition.

Mr. Smegelski’s prize-winning performance featured Nikita Koshkin’s Usher Waltz and J. S. Bach’s Prelude in d minor, BWV 999. As part of his First Prize Award, Mitchell will receive a two-year scholarship to attend a college or university of his choice in the state of Florida.

Mitchell is the son of Deborah and Mike Smegelski of Pensacola, and a student of Dr. Joe Stallings, director of guitar programs, at Pensacola Junior College. He is also a member of the Pensacola Guitar Orchestra, the Pensacola Guitar Ensemble, and the Pensacola Guitar Society.
 

Alumni News
Ashley Bliss (AA 2003) was recently featured on an episode of "Law and Order." Ashley is a 2005 graduate of the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Jennifer Vincent (AA 2003) has been seen on episodes of "Vegas" and "CSI" this season.

Andrew Hubbard (AA 2003) is a graduate of the famed Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and is currently a working actor in New York City.

Safia Aksouh (A.A. 2003) is a graduate of the University of Central Florida and is currently a Renaissance singer at Tokyo DisneySea in Japan.

PJC Music Students Receive Scholarships

May 2009

Two Pensacola Junior College freshmen music majors recently received the Ike Terry Memorial Scholarship from the Cantonment Rotary Club.

Vocalist Dyllon Burnside and guitarist Jeramiah Snell each received a $500 award. PJC professor and Cantonment Rotary Club member Jack O’Donnell made the presentation.

The scholarship was established for the late Ike Terry, minister of music at First United Methodist Church and member of the Cantonment Rotary Club.