Oakton Music Students Earn Scholarships to Continue Education

(June 1, 2016) Angelica Trygar of Park Ridge (Maine South) and Lucas Keil from downstate Edwardsville will be transferring to four-year colleges to continue their music education after earning competitive talent scholarships. Both musicians will be starting as third-year students with all of their credits being accepted by their new schools.

Trygar will be attending Columbia College of Chicago in the fall majoring in musical theater. She was awarded the coveted Create, Engage and Explore Scholarship based on her academic merit, financial need and a video performance.

“My Oakton professors have helped me achieve this dream. In high school I worked almost 40 hours a week in a job to help support my family, so I didn’t have much time to participate in choir or theater,” Trygar said. “However, I was able to explore my passion at Oakton, performing in two plays and singing in the choir for the last three years. I owe it all to my voice instructor, Eileen Berman, and professor Glenna Sprague and (lecturer) Thomas Clippert for everything they taught me about music and for their encouragement.”

Keil moved to the Nearnorth area from Edwardsville while serving in the Air National Guard, and he enrolled at Oakton to pursue his interest in guitar performance. In the fall, he’ll be continuing his music studies on a scholarship at Western Illinois University.

“I didn’t realize how serious the music program was here until I started taking courses. My teacher, guitar lecturer Thomas Clippert, earned his master’s degree from Yale and is a well-known performer. It’s amazing how much I learned from him.”

To earn his scholarship at Western, Keil had to perform a prepared piece as well as sight read new music.

Sprague said, “I couldn’t be more proud of these two students. They both worked very hard to earn their scholarships, and I can’t wait to see how far their talents take them in the future.”