CHARLOTTE — Four Charlotte Catholic High School choral students were selected to participate in the 69th annual Mars Hill University Choral Festival Feb. 3-4.
Jonathan Huth, Chelsea Smith, Emma Story and Maura Streppa were selected through auditions held last October. More than 800 students across the state auditioned, and from those auditions, 280 were chosen for the festival choir. Dr. Craig Jessop, the former conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, served as the guest conductor and clinician for the two-day festival, which culminated in a concert held Feb. 4.
The Mars Hill University Choral Festival was established in 1949 as an effort to improve choral music in the high schools of western North Carolina. In its early years, the festival was comprised of about 15 schools in the area surrounding Mars Hill University. It has grown to become one of the premiere choral festivals in North Carolina, and is thought to be the longest continuously-running festival of its type in the southeast.
Dottie Tippett, choral director and fine arts chair at the high school, noted that Jessop commented at a choral directors’ luncheon that he doesn’t know of another state that offers such a prestigious festival for high school students. “It’s such an honor for Jonathan, Chelsea, Emma and Maura to be selected,” she said. “We are all very proud of them.”
— Carolyn Kramer Tillman
HENDERSONVILLE — Retired Immaculate Conception Church parishioners Michael and Mary Ann Quinn wanted to help keep Catholic education alive in western North Carolina. Both had attended Catholic schools growing up, so when they heard their parish school needed some financial assistance, they wanted to make a difference.
The couple had a condominium in California which they had purchased decades ago and used as a rental property when they relocated from California to North Carolina to be closer to family back on the East Coast. They recently decided they no longer needed the condominium, so they looked into ways to be able to donate it to help set up an endowment to further Catholic education.
The Quinns donated the property to the Diocese of Charlotte, which in turn sold the property and used the proceeds to establish the Quinn Family Endowment Fund to benefit Immaculata School in Hendersonville.
The fund, set up in August 2016, has a principal of $403,000, which means the school will be able to use approximately $20,000 annually to help fund scholarships and provide other financial help to the school.
“We were happy we were able to do this,” Mary Ann Quinn said. “Hopefully, it will benefit all of the children who want a Catholic education.”
Michael Quinn volunteered for years with faith formation at Immaculate Conception Church, so it meant a lot to him to be able to give in a meaningful way to help foster Catholic education.
“Both of us went through Catholic grammar school, high school and college,” Mary Ann Quinn said. “We just felt that when we heard the school was having some financial challenges here, we remembered that, and knowing there aren’t that many Catholic schools in western North Carolina, we wanted to help.
“This section of the state seems to be growing and so we didn’t want that to go by the wayside, not having a Catholic school around here,” she explained.
“Many people set up an endowment through a bequest in their will,” said Jim Kelley, diocesan development director. “However, for those who own more than one residence, whether it be in North Carolina or another state, making a gift of one of those residences – just like the Quinns have done – is a wonderful way to support a parish, school, ministry or the diocese.
For details about establishing an endowment or providing an estate gift, contact Ray-Eric Correia, diocesan director of planned giving, at 704-370-3364 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter