We're almost there!

Last fall we began a campaign to fully endow the Jim Petercsak Percussion Scholarship. A number of Jim’s former students initiated this scholarship years ago to honor our former mentor. However, over time, the college raised the minimum standard of an endowed scholarship to $20,000 leaving the JP scholarship un-endowed and loosing funds. 

Cue the campaign to fully endow the JP scholarship!

I’m happy to report that, in the last year, we have journeyed over half way to our goal of raising the necessary $9,000 to fully endow. To date, the JP scholarship stands at $16,000, meaning we need only $4,000 to reach the endowment level. However, we need to reach beyond the "usual suspects” to achieve our goal. So here’s my pitch: 40 donations of $100 will enable us to reach the endowment level! We know there is a big tent of JP alumni out there who will be happy to chip in. Won’t you help by reaching out to someone to encourage another donation? Together we can have a positive impact on the life of a Crane percussion student and honor the legacy of our teacher for his near half-century of service to percussion education.

Now, I just took a break to make my donation, so we’re that much closer (down to 39!). Please join me and, more importantly, enlist the support of another alumnus who you know.

How To Donate:

• Donate here at the Potdam College web site and click on the Red "GIVE NOW" button on the right of the screen
• When identifying where your donation will be directed:
• write: “Jim Petercsak Percussion Scholarship” in the "Other" box

We hope you will join us in our effort to honor Jim Petercsak by building this fund to a current endowment level!

Jim Petercsak Scholarship

Click here to donate to the Jim Petercsak Scholarship Fund (follow directions below)

Dear Fellow Crane Alumni:

Generations of percussion students at the Crane School of Music share a common experience - we were all students of  the great JimPetercsak. And that makes us a special breed of Crane Alumni.

Jim was our teacher and friend. We graduated, had careers and retired. Jim? He’s still teaching! To say that Jim is an icon or a legend in the field of percussion education is an understatement. The influence he has had, directly and indirectly, on generations of students, has been profound.

A number of years ago, many of Jim’s former students got some funding together and established an endowment in Jim’s name – the Jim Petercsak Percussion Scholarship.  The purpose of the endowment was to help fund the education of a Crane student percussionist; a great idea that endures today. 

The endowment we created is presently worth $11,000 (update:16,000!), and continues to provide annual scholarship funding. However, SUNY Potsdam has increased the minimum dollar amount of endowed scholarships to $20,000 in order to provide a more meaningful amount of annual support. (For example: a $20,000 endowed scholarship yields about $1000 for a student/year, helping to meet a significant portion of a student’s book or living expenses.)       

We feel strongly that all of us, Jim’s former students, could work together to raise the $9,000 ($4,000!) needed to increase this scholarship to a level that will provide a greater amount of support for today’s students. We’re confident that we can reach that goal... and then some. So please help out however you can.

We all have great memories of our years at Potsdam, and the education we received impacted our lives immeasurably. In fact, The Crane School of Music is, and will continue to be, one of the finest schools of music anywhere. But Crane has a problem - there aren't enough endowments to compete, and Crane is losing fine young musicians who are being offered more scholarship money to attend other institutions. 

In conclusion, there are a few compelling reasons to bring Jim’s fund up to the current endowment level:

• Jim is in his 46th 47th year as a professor at Potsdam and deserves this recognition
• Crane needs more endowments to compete with other fine schools
• Giving is inspirational….we will motivate other Crane alumni to do what we’re doing

Our goal is to raise the additional $9,000 $4,000 to make this a fully endowed scholarship so let's get moving!  

Directions to make a tax deductible donation:

• Donate here at the Potdam College web site and click on the Red "GIVE NOW" button on the right of the screen
• When identifying where your donation will be directed:
• write: “Jim Petercsak Percussion Scholarship” in the "Other" box

We hope you will join us in our effort to honor Jim Petercsak by building this fund to a current endowment level!

John Leddy

Gary Hodges

Scott Lavine
Pete DeSalvo