Local bands raise money for memorial scholarship
Named for former students Blake Donner and Jenn Galbraith, the scholarship helps students who are active in their communities. All proceeds from the benefit concert will supplement the scholarship.
A benefit concert to raise money for the Donner-Galbraith Memorial Scholarship will take place Oct. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at UVU Centre Stage. The free concert will feature four artists and raise donations for a scholarship honoring four students who died in a cave-exploring accident seven years ago.
The artists are Adjacent to Nothing, Sek Tau, Joel Pack and Intrepid, all local bands volunteering to perform for the scholarship’s cause.
This benefit concert has been a tradition for English professor Stephen Fullmer and Jojo Productions since the spring of 2009. The scholarship began to need an income supplement because of the falling economy that caused a slowing interest of the scholarship’s endowment funds. The past five concerts have established a pattern of success. Not only do the performers contribute, but various generous companies and individuals donate to the cause.
“We need to get the money so they can award more than a freaking half-scholarship,” Fullmer said.
Fullmer began the tradition with the help of his Heavy Metal class, encouraging participation from all his classes every year since.
“It’s a service project, and I believe that all students should get a chance to serve . . . they want to,” Fullmer said. “We hope students will come because it’s free and [then] donate a little. It all adds up.”
Blake Donner and Jenn Galbraith, two of the four students killed in the 2005 cave accident, both had parents who were English professors at UVU. Because of that, the English department was hit especially hard by the tragedy.
The scholarship was created to support students like Donner and Galbraith and the other victims Ariel Singer and Scott McDonald – the “eccentric student,” as Fullmer explained. The scholarship is awarded to one or two socially-aware students involved in the community and civic discourse, much like Donner and Galbraith, who were vegan and vegetarian, respectively, and were both active in their communities.
“This scholarship is set up for those who might not have a chance,” Fullmer said.
Depending on how much this year’s concert raises, the scholarship will be anywhere from two half-scholarships to two full scholarships.