Graduating senior Nathaniel "Nate" Banks of Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax received $2,500 on May 29 as the 2012 recipient of The Lunsford/Behrend Scholarship. The Lunsford/Behrend Scholarship Fund, Inc., which has awarded a scholarship annually for the past six years, was started by Robinson band alumni in honor of Robinson band directors James G. Lunsford and Jack Behrend, who taught and inspired hundreds of students during their tenure at the school during the 1970s.
Banks, who plans to attend Vanderbilt University in the fall, is a member of the Robinson symphonic band and is the saxophone section leader of the Robinson jazz band. He was named the outstanding musician at the Chantilly Jazz Festival in 2011 and has been selected for two consecutive years, 2010 and 2011, as lead alto sax in the Virginia All-State jazz band.
Robinson alumnus John Oyhenart, president of the scholarship fund,
presented the award at the Robinson Band Awards banquet.
A group of Robinson Secondary School band alumni established the
Lunsford/Behrend Scholarship Fund, Inc., in 2006 after reuniting at
memorial services for James Lunsford, who died in late 2005. Jack Behrend died in 1986.
The scholarship fund, a 501(c)(3) corporation, is dedicated to providing funding to deserving Robinson students to pursue higher education while staying involved in music. Contributions to the Lunsford/Behrend Scholarship Fund are tax-deductible; to find out more about the fund or to make a donation, visit www.lunsfordbehrend.org.