May 11, 2004
Contact Bobbie Wilson @ 796-3075 or bawilson@viterbo.edu
VITERBO STUDENT WINS LIBERACE SCHOLARSHIP FOR THE ARTS
LA CROSSE, Wis. -- Holmen High School graduate and Viterbo University student Andrew Waffenschmidt has earned the prestigious title of Liberace Scholar for the 2004-2005 school year.
The Liberace Scholar receives a scholarship made possible by a $3,000 grant from the Liberace Foundation. The $3,000 grant is then matched by Viterbo, creating a $6,000 scholarship for the performing or creative arts. The Liberace Foundation has awarded Viterbo with a grant five of the past six years.
Waffenschmidt is a junior majoring in voice and music education. He plans to perform in musical theater and share his passion for music with students as a teacher at the secondary level and to further his education in a graduate program. He is also the director of the Holmen High School Showchoir, played the lead role in the Viterbo production of the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors and the musical No, No, Nanette, sings in the Viterbo Concert Choir and Ninth Street Singers, has sung with Platinum Edition, and has been hired for the “Fab Fifties” live at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells, where he will perform 50’s pop songs eight shows per week for the ’04 summer season.
Last year’s Liberace Scholar, Suzanne Flater, has been accepted to the Manhattan School of Music. The 2001 winner, Brenda Cetera, received a full scholarship to Northwestern University upon graduating Viterbo, and is now enrolled in Northwestern’s graduate program.
Since its incorporation in 1976, the Liberace Foundation has funded more than 1,400 individual scholarships in the arts at more than 100 of the nation’s premier arts institutions and community organizations.