ADDY Awards

Nine BJU graphic design and studio art students recently submitted projects to the Greenville division of the American Advertising Federation. They walked away with impressive awards including four gold awards, four silver awards and Student Best in Show, won by senior graphic design major Melody Jung. Also, Ricky Altizer was the first college freshman in the American Advertising Federation of Greenville to win an ADDY award with his silver in Elements of Advertising for his stationery package.

Gold winners will participate in the district competition later this month.

Criminal justice scholarship

Abigail Petersen, a junior criminal justice major, received a $500 scholarship from the American Society for Industrial Security International, a professional organization for those in both private and corporate security.

ASIS was looking for a recipient with a minimum 3.0 GPA who plans to have a career in law enforcement or private security.

The award was presented to Petersen on Feb. 26 by Pat King, the organization’s regional vice president for North Carolina and South Carolina.

Dr. Mike Wilkie, faculty member in the department of social studies, said BJU has a solid, broad criminal justice program. “Our curriculum is designed to prepare a student to enter any area in the law enforcement field — state, local or federal,” he said.

A graduate of the FBI National Academy and a police officer and chief for 25 years, Wilkie brings hands-on experience to the major. He met with security professionals over Christmas break to ask them what skills they are looking for in college graduates. Writing and verbal communication skills ranked most important. “That is the strength of a liberal arts program — to give you a broad spectrum to be able to communicate and articulate in whatever you are doing,” Wilkie said.

National Association of Teachers of Singing

Twenty-one BJU and BJA students were distinguished at the qualification round of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Voice students from across the state gathered at the University of South Carolina to be judged by panels of voice teachers on Friday, March 15. Students came from Furman University, Clemson University, North Greenville and other colleges.

The students who qualified will participate in regionals on April 6 in Charleston, S.C.

Students were judged on qualities such as technique, difficulty of literature and musicality.

Nathan Dupont, a junior church music major, placed for regionals and won in his category. He prepared four pieces, including the French aria “Vision Fugitive,” Aaron Copland’s “I Bought Me a Cat,” an Italian piece, “Tulosa,” and an English piece, “Linden Lea.” For regionals, he will perform the same literature.

His instructor is Dr. Bill McCauley, faculty member in the department of vocal studies. Dupont said regionals will not be simply about achieving a certain score but about who performs the best.

Elisa Chodan, a sophomore music education major with a voice principal, also placed for regionals and won in her category. Her instructor is Mrs. Pam Dunbar. Chodan performed Mozart’s “Voi che sapete,” Faure’s “Après un reve” and Quilter’s “Song of the Blackbird.”

Category winners participated in an honors recital at the end of the competition.

“The honor’s recital was in a big recital hall in the middle of the building,” Chodan said. “It had a Steinway and gorgeous acoustics. I got more nervous for that than the actual competition because [I was] singing in front of all [my] peers.”

Chodan said she didn’t know what to expect going into the competition but that singing for the judges was actually really fun.

But there was also some suspense involved. “The judges came down and wrote on a wall the names of the students who made it into regionals [as we watched],” Chodan said. “It felt like you were in a movie.”

Chodan said she liked getting to meet people from other schools and see the good job they are doing as well.

“Even when I went to NATS, I wasn’t really going to win,” Chodan said. “I was just trying to enjoy it. That’s kind of what I’m going for at regionals. For me, the purpose of these experiences is to develop as a person.”