Jack and Pat Fariss Scholarship Endowment for Music Education at SHSU

This Scholarship is funded by the Pearland Band Alumni and Friends in honor of Jack and Pat Fariss, and to honor their commitment to music education. It is awarded annually by the scholarships committee of the SHSU School of Music.

Scholarship Requirements and Responsibilities

The Jack and Pat Fariss Scholarship Endowment for Music Education award will be made available to students who are majoring in music education as undergraduates at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville Texas. Preference will be given to woodwind, brass, and percussion instrumentalists. Upon application students will provide an essay on their reasons for choosing to major in music education.

Once the Endowment funding level is reached, the scholarship can be awarded and renewed for a single student for up to eight semesters, if the student remains full-time and maintains a 3.0 GPA (SAT score of 1200, ACT score of 24 for incoming Freshmen). Financial need will be a consideration but not a determining factor. Proof of full-time enrollment status and end of semester grades are required. Additional semesters and/or graduate school awarding may be considered with a new application. The annual award amount to be $1000 — divided to $500 per semester to include Fall and Spring.

Jack Fariss – Texas Bandmasters Association President 1987, Alpha chapter-Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame director 2008

About Jack and Pat Fariss

Jack Fariss (M. MusEd. SHSU) attended Blinn College in Brenham TX where he changed his primary instrument from cornet to French horn. At Sam Houston State Teachers College [now SHSU], he met Pat Harvey (B. MusEd. SHSU), a clarinet player, on the fifty yard-line while marching a diamond drill in the Bearkat Band. They were married on Homecoming Day their senior year….after the traditional band’s marching through the dorms at 5:30 a.m., waking up the student body, marching in the morning homecoming parade, and performing with the Bearkat Band at the afternoon football game. — They both went on to earn their music degrees and start their teaching careers.

Mr. Fariss began his teaching career in the small schools of Shepherd ISD and Tidehaven ISD. At the age of twenty-nine in 1969, he took over the band program in Pearland Texas. While there, Pat and Jack raised their two daughters Kristin and Rhonda (herself an All-State clarinetist), and for the next twenty-nine years Mr. Fariss led the Pearland High School Band program as it grew from originally having only one band to five performing concert groups. Pat Fariss taught private clarinet lessons to many of the students through the years, as well as teaching elementary music for the District, and lending all the support possible to the Pearland Band programs.

Under Jack’s direction the concert bands of Pearland High School received many honors, including TMEA AAAAA Honor Band, as well as Outstanding Band awards at festivals in Texas, Florida, and Washington, D.C.. With thirty-five consecutive years of first divisions in marching, the Pearland High School Band qualified for the UIL State Marching Contest almost every AAAAA competition year since the contest’s inception and performed in the finals on numerous occasions. Thousands of students benefitted from the Fariss’s dedication to music education through the years, not only in Pearland but throughout the State, and the Pearland Band Alumni and Friends are honored to create this scholarship fund in their names.

Instructions for Contributing to the Scholarship Endowment

To contribute online go to: https://www.shsu.edu/giving — In the “Gift Designation” dropdown menu select “Other.” Just below that in the “Other” window, type “Jack and Pat Fariss Scholarship Endowment for Music Education.” Fill out the other blanks as required/desired. Click “Submit” at the bottom to forward to the payments page. — OR to mail in your donation use the form found here. Donors of $140 or more are accorded a recognition level as shown here: https://www.shsu.edu/dept/university-advancement/donorrecognition.html — When the Fariss Scholarship Endowment reaches the $25,000 base level it will provide a $1000 per year scholarship for a deserving music student each year at Sam Houston State University, payable from the interest earned in perpetuity. As it increases, more scholarship funds can be awarded.

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