Wallenpaupack musician is Lacey scholar

HAWLEY — Ashley Segarra, senior band member at Wallenpaupack Area High School, has been awarded the 2011 Michael Lacey Memorial Jazz Scholarship. This $500 dollar award recognizes the dedication and commitment of a deserving jazz student participating in the 2011 Celebration of the Arts Honors Jazz Band. The COTA Cats, as they are affectionately known, is a big band jazz ensemble that highlights the top high school jazz students in the Poconos area and performs every year at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz festival. The Michael Lacey Memorial Scholarship honors the memory of the former COTA Cat who was tradgically killed in an auto accident in the fall of 2007. Ashley Segarra is the first Wallenpauck High School band member to be awarded this prestigious honor.