Scholarships have provided life-changing opportunities for UNG students, including performing with and learning from faculty who have performed at Carnegie Hall.

Tyler Howell is a senior at the University of North Georgia (UNG) pursuing a degree in music performance for saxophone. He hails from Cumming, Georgia.

Howell plans to become a music therapist, and his next step would be to pursue a graduate degree in music therapy equivalency, which then leads to a master's in music therapy.

There are different types of music therapists, but the idea is to use music as a therapeutic tool to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of an individual, Howell explained.

"Some music therapists help with communication from infants and their mothers to kind of build communication between the two before the infant is able to speak. Others work with Alzheimer's patients just trying to upkeep and maybe revive memories. And then there are some that deal with motor movements, like stroke patients utilize percussion to kind of rebuild motor functioning," Howell said.

Last year Howell did a prospectus thesis on how music therapy could eventually rebuild parts of the brain that deal with empathy, thus helping improve the standard of living for patients dealing with narcissistic personality disorder. He presented in the classroom and shared that "it was cool because psychology professors attended." 

Howell credits the generosity of donors with being able to achieve his career goal. As a recipient of scholarships, he's been able to focus more on academics than finances.

"Having these scholarships has really enabled me to dedicate my time to performance practice and studying my craft rather than stressing about certain financial needs," he said. "It has helped me cultivate a strong artistic standard for myself and really encourages my academic productivity, which is really helpful."

At one point Howell considered transferring but chose to stay because UNG’s faculty is "world-renowned, engaging and provide opportunities"  including performing with pianist Mengyao Sun, who performed at Carnegie Hall with violinist Yeasol Kang and cellist Dr. Philip Snyder  as The Crown Mountain Trio.

"It's cool because I've performed on stage a couple of times with her," Howell said. "Honestly, she's incredible."

Howell also highlighted faculty member Dr. Adam Frey, who he credits with creating opportunities for the euphonium "that didn't exist before."

"I'm taking an entrepreneurship class with him where we're talking about how to survive in the professional musician world in terms of promoting ourselves, starting our own businesses and how to market our craft," Howell said. "It's really cool getting to learn from people who have done this and have real-world experience and are the most respected people in their fields. It's been an incredible experience to study with them."

Jennifer Mandzyuk is pursuing a degree in music education. Now in her junior year, Mandzyuk acknowledges that a scholarship has done more than supporting her financially.

"The scholarship was actually a very big kind of acknowledgement from my work," she said. "Dr. Joanna Kim encouraged me and said, 'You deserve this.' It was more than just money. Receiving the scholarship was just so encouraging. It felt like recognition of everything I have been doing for three years. It was encouraging knowing that they have my back."

Mandzyuk, who is from Cumming, Georgia, will be classically trained in opera upon graduation and looks forward to performing on stage.