Ohio Northern University student Elizabeth Druesedow, a senior music performance major from Sharon Center, Ohio, has been named a 2014 Presser Scholar Award recipient. As a Presser Scholar, Druesedow will receive a $4,400 grant.
The award is given to a student who shows excellence in academics and a passion for music. In order to present the scholarship each year, the University must have at least 40 undergraduate music majors enrolled in the program. The recipient must have at least one-third of their credit hours in an area other than music.
In addition to the terms above, students must be at or near the end of their junior year. They are chosen by the music faculty with the choice of the recipient guided solely on excellence and merit.
Druesedow plays clarinet in the ONU Wind Orchestra and ONU Symphony Orchestra and serves as student conductor for both ensembles. Druesedow is one of the ONU Department of Music’s music ambassadors, recruiting music students who are interested in majoring in music or interested in participating in ONU’s music ensembles. She also is an active member in the Tau Beta Sigma national honorary band sorority.
The award is made possible through the generosity of Theodore Presser’s will. Presser founded and published the Etude music magazine and was an influential teacher at ONU and other institutions of higher learning.
In 1916, Presser created the Presser Foundation through several deeds of trust and through his will. The Foundation officially incorporated in 1939 following his death in 1925.