Seneca Valley School District has created a scholarship in honor of Pastor William Brewer, longtime choral pianist at the district. The PB Scholarship, as it is known, will be given annually to a graduating student who will study music at college. Submitted Photo

Starting this school year, the Seneca Valley School District is paying tribute to one of its own with a brand-new $1,000 scholarship for graduating music students.

The PB Scholarship, named after longtime Seneca Valley choral pianist Pastor William Brewer, will be given annually to a graduating student from Seneca Valley High School who is going to college to study music.

William’s son, Nathan, announced the new scholarship at Seneca Valley’s annual senior high school choir concert in May. The Seneca Valley Choral Boosters provided an immediate kick-start for the new scholarship fund by pitching in $2,500, with other donors contributing to the fund not long after.

Brewer, who turns 80 on Sept. 14, has been playing piano for the Seneca Valley choral program since 1993 and has been a fixture and a source of inspiration to the district’s music students.

“My dad is beloved by the Seneca Valley choral students,” said William’s son, Nathan, a musical theater professor at New York University. “They even cheer for him when he walks into the rehearsal room.”

Before his semi-retirement in 2012, William served as pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Zelienople, and previously served in the same capacity at churches in Carmichaels, Masontown, East Vandergrift, Apollo and Jeanette. All combined, William’s career as a pastor has spanned 42 years.

In addition to his pastoral and musical duties, William wrote more than 40 youth musicals for Camp Lutherlyn in Prospect. Nathan followed in his father’s footsteps, forming a theater group at St. Paul and using that as a springboard to a career in theater and film.

Even today, William serves as the organist at Oak Grove Lutheran Church and Zion Lutheran Church, both in Zelienople.

Nathan says the school district pays William a modest stipend for his work with the school choir, but aside from that, his father largely has done the work out of love.

"He goes into the schools almost every day throughout the year,“ Nathan said.

The new scholarship will replace the “CYP Scholarship,” which benefited 20 Seneca Valley music students from 2012 to this year. According to Brewer, the fund recently ran out of money, forcing the school to create a new fund from scratch. The old scholarship was named for Christian Youth Productions, the youth drama group that Nathan formed at St. Paul.

“With the money donated through free-will offerings during the time of that organization, we had gathered enough to start this scholarship,” Nathan said. “We ran out of money in May.”

The PB Scholarship is open to all Seneca Valley students who were active in the choir program and are heading to college to further study vocal music. The $1,000 scholarship will be awarded annually to only one student — as opposed to the previous CYP scholarship, which went to multiple students per year.

Anyone can contribute any amount to the scholarship fund by visiting www.pbscholarship.org. The donation is tax-deductible.