The Jacksonville Symphony Guild recently presented seven children with scholarships from the Eleanor H. King Scholarship Fund, which was founded this year and was named after a longtime member of the Jacksonville Symphony Guild who saw a need for children who wanted to participate in the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra (JYSO) but were not able to afford the tuition costs. On her 95th birthday, King — with scholarship recipients (clockwise from left) Meklit Daniel, Kai Cruz, Nina Sansus, Gabriela Pena and Ryan Hadsock asked friends and family to donate to the fund in order to provide the seed money necessary to get the fund started. All children who are accepted into the JYSO are eligible to seek grant funding through the scholarship fund.
“We felt the Guild needed to be supportive of the JYSO and feel that this is a good positive way of helping”, said Anita Geiger, president of the Jacksonville Symphony Guild.