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Students of Teresia Ann Queen earned National Federation of Music Clubs Gold Cups at the 2019 NFMC Junior Music Festival held on the campus of Wake Forest.

North Carolina holds 13 area NFMC Junior Festival music competitions around the state each year with more than 4,000 students competing, sponsored by the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) and designed to give musicians of all levels and abilities the opportunity to perform and receive yearly evaluations in a non-competitive environment.

Participation promotes music study, stimulates interest in the musical literature of the USA and the world, and encourages each student to reach a high standard of musical achievement. Their NFMC Gold Cup program is nationally recognized and honors outstanding and excellent musicianship skills in all areas of music.

The following students from Queen’s studio earned their Gold Cups for 2019:

• Joseph and Elaina Boulos, whose parents are Kamil and Joelle Boulos of Advance. Both attend Salem Baptist Christian School, with Elaina in the 10th grade and Joseph in the 7th.  They attend Friendly Arabic Church and enjoy playing soccer. They have earned eight NFMC gold cups with one earned this year in the event of Piano Duet.

• Meredith Everett earned her second 45-point gold cup in Hymns at her last festival competition. She had earned her first 45-point cup in Piano Solo. Meredith has a total of ten NFMC Gold Cups, and was the 2017 NFMC state title winner for NC in the Hymn Cup Class II event.  She is the daughter of Jody and Ashley Everett of Advance and a recent honors graduate of Davie High School.

• Zachary Edmonds is a rising high school freshman and 2019 is his sixth year to compete at Wake Forest.  He earned 30 point cups in the events of: Piano Solo, Hymns and American Patriotic/Folk Songs by scoring his sixth straight Superior in all events. He is the son of Timothy and Christi Edmonds and they attend Mt. Carmel Friends Meeting Church where Zachary often plays during the worship. He enjoys metal detecting, camping, playing the piano and drums.

• Will Hedrick is the son of David and Kathy Hedrick of Davie County.  He is a rising 7th grader at North Davie Middle and is a member of Clemmons Presbyterian Church. Will enjoys baseball, riding bikes, exploring with friends and swimming.  The 2019 NFMC gold cups for Will include the events of: Piano Solo and Hymn Playing.  He previously had earned a 15 point Gold Cup in the American Patriotic/Folk Song event. Will is working on his Piano Duet Gold Cup with sister, Holyn, which will be earned in 2020.

• Tyler Moore is a rising 4th grader attending St Leo Catholic School in the fall. His hobbies include Taekwondo and Minecraft.  Tyler has been taking piano lessons since kindergarten and has one previous gold cup in piano solo before earning three more 15-point cups this year.  His events for 2019 included:  Musicianship/Theory, Hymns and American Patriotic/Folk Songs.  Tyler is the son of Jason and Suvalee Moore of Advance.

• Landon Vick earned his 2019 Gold Cup in the event of Piano Solo. This makes his third NFMC award, having earned Hymns and AP/FS previously. His parents are Chip and Jansen Bailey and Steve Vick of Davie County. Landon enjoys cooking and video games. He is a rising 8th grader at North Davie Middle School and attends Farmington Baptist Church.

• Seventh grade twins, Arabella and E.J. Yaroszewski, each won four 15 point Gold Cups by scoring their third straight year of superior for 2019.  Their events included: Piano Solo, Piano Duet, Hymns and American Patriotic/Folk Songs. They are members of Center Grove Baptist Church and their parents are Joseph and Susan Yaroszewski of Advance. Both belong to Heritage HomeSchool. Both love to read, with Arabella enjoying softball and volleyball, and E.J. playing baseball and enjoying airsoft.

The above listed nine students are members of the Music Studio of Teresia Ann Queen, local piano and voice teacher, recently named again as having the No. 1 ranked federated music studio in North Carolina by the NFMC, a national organization that has more than 135,000 members.

The studio is a junior club which participates annually in the NFMC Junior Music Festival. Although many other factors contributed to this honor, the participation and success of her students at Wake Forest was the largest contributing factor to the state and national ranking for Queen’s studio.

“I am honored to be affiliated with such a dedicated musical organization on the state and national level and all the opportunities it provides students for challenge and growth in their musical education,” she said. “Thank you to all students who contributed to being named No. 1 in the state of NC for another year. You contributed with your festival participate scores, sharing music in your churches, performing at nursing homes and talent shows, letters of recognition from congressional leaders in your areas, and all those students who were named state finalists, as well as state title-holders in your respective events.”

Other students who contributed to the state and national ranking (but who are in the middle of gold cup years and not pictured,) include: Mallory Andrews, Eli and Katelynn Beadle, Samuel Boulos, Paige Carter, Ryan Fussell, Jaxon Gardner, Luke Hannah, Layla Hazlip, Holyn and Anna Hedrick, Daniel Hennessey, Adam Hill, Abigail Kaselis, Sean Lane, Beckett Lunde, Natalie and Jeffrey Lyons, Leela Moore, Kristen Roberts, Parker and Abby Ross, Caity Smith and Giulianna Steuart. “Each student is to be congratulated for all they have accomplished, shared and contributed to this statewide recognition as well as their own individual perfect scores and awards,” Queen said.