Sto-Rox music students benefit from Morgan Wallen’s donation
Morgan Wallen’s tour stop in Pittsburgh earlier this summer struck a sour note for some fans when weather concerns prompted him to cancel the second of his two scheduled dates at Acrisure Stadium.
But for Sto-Rox School District staff and students, the country music star’s visit will mean sweet music for many years to come.
That’s because the school district has received nearly $40,000 worth of musical instruments and accessories from the Morgan Wallen Foundation through its 2026 Tour Give Back Program.
The program was created to provide students with new opportunities to learn, create and grow through music.
The donation includes:
- 1 baritone saxophone
- 2 euphoniums (3-valve)
- 10 classical guitars
- 1 tenor saxophone
- 3 trombones
- 2 alto saxophones
- 4 clarinets
- 4 flutes
District Superintendent Sonya Coleman said the district is “truly honored and incredibly excited” to receive the donation.
“This gift will have a lasting impact on students and our music program by providing access to high-quality instruments that will inspire creativity, enhance learning opportunities and help our young musicians continue to grow both artistically and personally," she said.
Suellen Engelhard, the district’s director of bands for grades 4 through 12, said she’s so grateful the district was chosen to receive the donation “because our students work so hard.”
“I feel like sometimes they might be at a disadvantage because they can’t afford or don’t have their own instruments,” she said. “With these instruments, students can still participate in things like Honor Band with other students. They won’t be excluded because they don’t have their own instrument.”
Engelhard, who has held virtually every music-related job the district has had in her 30 years there, said the grant opportunity arose from an email she received from the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, which partners with the Wallen Foundation to place musical instruments in schools nationwide.
Engelhard said she responded to the invitation-only process by submitting an application and after going through a prescreening process, she was invited along with fellow Sto-Rox teacher Jessica Bromley to participate in a Zoom interview.
Engelhard said the application process was a lengthy one.
“They wanted to know about our budget, our inventory (of instruments), the condition of the instruments and the programs we offer,” she said.
During the Zoom interview, foundation officials wanted to know more about the two teachers’ students and what opportunities they had for music instruction in school.
The whole process played out from early June until the district learned it had received the donation in August.
Engelhard said she wasn’t sure what Sto-Rox’s chances were because the district had received a previous donation from Citizens Bank for $10,000 worth of instruments.
“You just don’t ever know,” she said. “I thought they might think that we had been given enough.
“I’m just really grateful – it’s amazing what they’ve done.”
Bromley, who has been teaching in the district for 25 years, said Engelhard did the heavy lifting in the application process.
“Suellen spearheaded it,” she said. “I had to inventory my small instrument section and that wasn’t easy for me. I can only imagine the amount of work (Engelhard) did, to go through all the different instruments.”
Bromley said she’s particularly excited about the 10 new classical guitars.
“When I started teaching 25 years ago, we bought guitars for the general music classes – and we’ve been using them ever since,” she said. “With the 10 new ones, we can get rid of those that are broken and cracked.
“It’s a pretty big thing.”
Bromley said having additional guitars also will give her the option of loaning a guitar to a student who wants to take one home occasionally.
Engelhard said the additional instruments certainly will come in handy because she said that “99.9%” of Sto-Rox students who take part in the district’s music program have to borrow the schools’ instruments as opposed to renting or buying their own.
“We need a good supply for them to use if they want to participate,” she said. “I don’t turn anyone away. If they want to play, I’ll get them an instrument.
“Clarinet, flute, saxophone, trumpets – we have to have a good number of them in order for students to get started.”
Engelhard said some instruments are too expensive for the district to consider buying.
“The (baritone) sax – there’s no way we’d be able to budget for that,” she said.
Engelhard said the district offers a beginner, elementary, concert and symphonic band, depending on the grade level. At this point, she said she anticipates seeing 75 to 80 high school students participating in band and roughly 70 or more at the elementary level.
She said those numbers represent an uptick after taking a slight dip after the COVID-19 pandemic, when enrollment as a whole declined.
“Since then, we’ve implemented a beginner band class again at the high school, and I’ve had a steady group in that section,” Engelhard said.
“We’re trending up, which is good. I’d say we’re on the rise.”
Photos by: Suellen Engelhard & Jessica Bromley
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