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NEWS SERVICES |
NEWS
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May 16, 2003 -- No. 292 |
Local angles: Harrisonburg and Springfield, Va.
Photo note: To download photo, see end of release.
Two seniors graduating Sunday win generous Cooke scholarships
CHAPEL HILL -- Two seniors who will graduate Sunday (May 18) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have won generous Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarships, which cover tuition, room and board, required fees and books for up to six years of graduate study.
One of them, Daniel Ross Hinson of Springfield, Va., will sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the commencement ceremony. A music major, he aspires to become a professional opera singer and is headed for master’s degree work at the Eastman School of Music, part of the University of Rochester.
The second, Nathan L. Maust ("Mawst") of Harrisonburg, Va., majored in math with a minor in chemistry. He has volunteered at a Kenyan hospital, where his work included delivering vaccinations to citizens in remote areas. Maust will attend medical school at Johns Hopkins University, aiming eventually to become a doctor and participate in an organization such as Doctors Without Borders.
Eventually, both would also like to teach. Hinson and Maust are the first Carolina students to win Cooke graduate scholarships. The awards were first made last year.
The Cooke Foundation, of Landsdowne, Va., announced 43 winners today (May 16), chosen from among 842 applicants. Each winner can receive up to $50,000 a year to complete graduate or professional degrees. The scholarships, available to students from Virginia, Maryland or the District of Columbia, vary in value and length, depending on each winner’s chosen institution and field. Selection criteria include exceptional academic ability, strong will to succeed and qualities including demonstrated critical thinking, love of music or art and appreciation for literature.
The late Jack Kent Cooke, a businessman, sportsman, musician and philanthropist, owned professional sports teams including the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings and Washington Redskins. Among his other businesses were newspapers, magazines, radio stations, cable television and real estate holdings, including the Chrysler Building in New York City. When Cooke died in 1997, he left most of his fortune to establish the foundation. Its mission: to help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education.
Hinson said he feels especially honored to be chosen for the Cooke and singing the national anthem at commencement. For about 25 years, UNC music professor Dr. Stafford Wing has sung both the anthem and "Hark, the Sound," the university’s official song, at the ceremony. But this year, Chancellor James Moeser wanted a student to do the honors. His office asked Wing to suggest someone.
Wing and music professor Dr. Terry Rhodes recommended Hinson. While Wing has enjoyed his role, he concurs wholeheartedly with the change: "It’s very fitting that a student do the singing, and I step aside gladly," said Wing. "We also think it’s fitting that someone as outstanding as Daniel should be chosen. We’re very proud of him."
At the end of the ceremony, The Clefhangers, a student a cappella group, will sing "Carolina on my Mind" and "Hark the Sound."
The Cooke honorees help round out an exceptional year for Carolina in the realm of distinguished scholarships. So far for 2002-2003, 11 UNC students have won the following scholarships: one Rhodes, one Harry S. Truman, one Luce, one Winston Churchill Foundation, one Udall, two Cookes, one Leonard Rieser and three Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships.
"We had an outstanding group of applicants this year," said Dr. Robert Greenberg, director of the UNC Office of Distinguished Scholarships. "They worked hard and are truly deserving of these honors."
Last year Maust won a Cooke undergraduate scholarship, which paid tuition, fees and living expenses for his senior year. The son of Wendell and Lois Maust of Harrisonburg, he graduated from Harrisonburg High School in 1999. At UNC, Maust has a 3.9 grade-point average on a 4-point scale, has made the dean’s list every semester and been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s highest collegiate honor society. He came to Carolina on one of the university’s James M. Johnston Scholarships, awarded for both merit and need.
His experiences with Operation Crossroads Africa in summer 2001 included helping doctors in surgical, medical, maternity, pediatric and outpatient wards at Consolata Hospital in Nkubu, Kenya. Maust worked with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in summer 2002, where he assessed 15 health maintenance organization contract proposals for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.
At UNC, he as been Associate Student Attorney General since his junior year, overseeing about one-fifth of all cases tried by the Undergraduate Honor Court. Maust also worked with the UNC Dance Marathon, co-drafting bylaws on dispersal of the $100,000-plus that the student-run event raises each year for the N.C. Children’s Hospital. He was co-president of the UNC Men’s Tennis Club, national champions in 2000 and 2001.
Hinson, a tenor who will earn a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance, is the son of Gary and Margaret Hinson of Springfield and a 1999 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield. He has received two UNC music department scholarships and made the dean’s list every semester. He has a grade-point average of 3.87 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
Besides his four years of voice lessons at UNC, Hinson has studied under vocalists at Temple University and the Washington Opera and cello with a musician at the National Symphony Orchestra. He has played roles in numerous UNC Opera Workshop productions and soloed often as a member of the UNC Chamber Singers. Hinson has played bass gamba and performed vocal solos also with the UNC Viola da Gamba Consort.
This year he auditioned successfully, for the second year in a row, for the Janiec Opera Company, which performs each summer at the Brevard Music Center in western North Carolina. This summer Hinson has won the second tenor role in "La Traviata" with the company, a group of advanced student singers who aspire to become professional vocalists.
At UNC, Hinson played club racquetball and intramural flag football, basketball and softball and was part of the Lutheran Campus Ministry group. He has been music director, historian and alumni secretary for the UNC chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national music fraternity. Among his community service projects was directing the fraternity’s holiday caroling at nursing homes.
"I find great joy in sharing the gifts with which I have been blessed," Hinson said. "Music is a powerful tool, and I am grateful to have the ability to bring happiness into the lives of other people."
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Contacts: Maust can be reached through Sunday at 919-960-3947, and through June 14 at 540-433-7084, nlmaust@yahoo.com; Hinson can be reached through Sunday at 919-619-0881 and afterward at danimalhinson@yahoo.com
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, 919-962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu
