Facing the Music: Scholarship Awardees Ailing Zhao and Zheng (Audrey) Ma
Student photographers capture the stories behind the music by putting Gator performers in front of the lens
In the SF State course “Journalism 435: Studio Lighting and Business,” Lecturer Scot Tucker teaches his students editorial photography and professional practices. The goal: giving budding shutterbugs the skills they’d need to launch and sustain careers as photojournalists and studio photographers. As part of their classwork in the fall, Tucker’s 14 students set out to create portraits of Gators who’ve dedicated themselves to a different artform — music.
The student photographers blended editorial photography with storytelling. The project highlighted a diverse range of campus musicians — from punk bands to classical instrumentalists — showcasing the University’s vibrant creative community. Two of the musicians featured in the project, Ailing Zhao and Zheng (Audrey) Ma, are awardees of donor-funded scholarships. Learn more about Ailing and Audrey below, and see the full photography project here.
Photo by Michaela Mateo
Ailing Zhao is a fourth-year piano student in the School of Music. She has been a musician since she was 5 years old and is now a music teacher while working toward her B.A. at SF State. She has been teaching for 16 years — 10 years in China and six years in the U.S.
Ailing is a recipient of the William Corbett Jones Piano Scholarship. She hopes to become a college professor in the future. She recently gave birth to her first baby, and had to stop teaching for 5 months due to pregnancy complications. The scholarship enables Ailing to pay her tuition, buy books, and pay for child-related expenses so she can continue her studies.
Ailing says:
“Now I can focus more on my studies and have less pressure. Receiving this scholarship will allow me to continue chasing my dreams.”
Zheng (Audrey) Ma first became fascinated by the piano when she heard a neighbor playing when she was a child. Because she would stand outside and listen whenever the neighbor practiced, her mother spent all her savings to buy Audrey a piano of her own. “I am doing what I love every day because of my mother,” she says. “Even though she is no longer here, each time I play I feel like I am connecting with her.”
Audrey is a recipient of the Pone Scholarship. She hopes to pursue a professional piano teaching career, and says:
“This award provides me with the chance to develop skills that will benefit the music program at San Francisco State University and extend beyond it. I am deeply committed to my education and our Music program, and I am now one step closer to becoming a great pianist.”
Photo by Colin Flynn
For more information about donating to the College of Liberal & Creative Arts, contact:
Soo Kim
Senior Director of Development (Creative Arts)
(415) 338-7113
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