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Scholarships

2023 CRITERIA & SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS
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2023 Papich Scholarship Application and Criteria 2023 SSF Sekluovich Scholarship Application and Criteria
 2023 V Lugonja Scholarship Application and Criteria 2023 Kosta & Sophia Papich Scholarship Application and Crieteria       

 

Petar & Minnie Sekulovich Scholarship

Karl MaldenThe †Petar and †Minnie Sekulovich Scholarship Fund was established to support Serbian choral singing and to encourage greater professionalism in the field.  This scholarship will help deserving men and women of Serbian heritage become more proficient in music, with particular emphasis on choral music, in the hope that the expertise they develop will someday be returned to their communities in the form of trained singers, teachers and choirmasters for future Serbian choirs.

A $50,000 trust fund was donated in 1998 by the Oscar-winning actor, Karl Malden in memory of his parents, Petar and Minnie Sekulovich. The SSF has distributed, $41,000 to students pursueing studies in music. Karl Malden was born Mladen Djordje Sekulovich in 1912 and raised by his parents, Petar and Minnie, in the Serbian community of Gary, Indiana. Petar Sekulovich had a passion for music, and organized the Karageorge Choir at Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church. Petar Sekulovich was the first president of the SSF and was president from 1931 to 1935. As a teenager, Karl (Mladen) joined the choir. Petar produced Serbian plays at the church and taught acting. A young Malden took part in many of these plays, mostly centered on the community's Serbian heritage. After a long and successful screen career, Karl Malden passed away in 2009.

S.S.F. Scholarships

The SSF SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS are $1,000 scholarships awarded to graduating, SSF member, high school seniors. 
Scholarships are awarded in honor of the following individuals: 
SERBIAN SINGING FEDERATION SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
 for 2nd, 3rd and 4th year college/university students		 SERBIAN SINGING FEDERATION SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
 for freshmen college/university students

 
Vlajko LugonjaVlajko Lugonja Scholarship - Biography

image4 21Paul S. Bielich (Scholarship Established 1995)

Paul Bielich was elected Executive Secretary of the Serbian Singing Federation in 1969 and served the SSF in that capacity for 33 years. The purchase of a national Headquarters building and the setting up of the headquarters and library were accomplished during this time period. In addition to routine SSF secretarial responsibilities, Paul was responsible for coordinating the publication and distribution of music to all member choirs and served as Editor of SSF “Hi- Notes.” One highlight during his tenure as Executive Secretary was his meeting Serbian composer Ljubomir M. Bosnjakovich on the island of Hvar, Yugoslavia during the summer of 1972. Paul relinquished the position of Executive Secretary voluntarily in 2002. The 2002 Convention bestowed upon him the title “Executive Secretary Emeritus.” Paul retired in 20015 after 36 years as a library media specialist with the Detroit Public Schools and presently works for the University of Michigan-Dearborn College of Education as Instructional Learning Manager of the Curriculum Knowledge Center. This scholarship has distributed $76,000 to qualified high school graduating seniors of or our SSF choir members. Paul continues to provide valued advice to the SSF.

Bajich2V. Rev. Fr. Milan Bajich Scholarship  (Established 2016)

Donated by the family of the late Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Milan Bajich. Fr. Milan served as parish priest of the St. George Serbian Orthodox Church in Kansas City. After his arrival in 1956, the church choir grew to form the S.S.S. St. George and became a member of the SSF. Over the years Proto Bajich arranged many pieces of Sacred and secular music and translated many of them into the English language. Over 38 years, 1956 through 1994, he was the parish priest and continued to direct the choir for an addition 5 years, ending with his final directorship at the SSF Choral Festival in Phoenix AZ. He turned over the directorship to his son, Peter, who still currently serves as director of SSS St. George. Until Proto’s death in 2004 he still attended choir practice and gave “advice” to the the new director.

Mom and Dad formal lV. Rev. Fr. Milan P Markovina Scholarship  (Established 2016)

Donated by the children and grandchildren of the late Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Milan and his beautiful helpmate the late Protinica Martha.  Fr. Milan was a composer, director and steward of Serbian music, both spiritual and secular.  Fr. Milan attended the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory of Music and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Major in Voice from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.  He directed the St. Nicholas Male Chorus in Wilmerding, Pennsylvania and recorded a still popular, “Sacred Music of the Serbian Orthodox Church” with the chorus.  He has added to the soul and beauty of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s liturgical cycle of music by writing two adaptations of the Divine Liturgy in English, adapting the Serbian Orthodox wedding ceremony into English,  and composing music for Christmas, Holy Week, Easter and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.  


  

slobodan zelich steubenvilleSlobodan Zelich Scholarship

Slobodan Zelich directed the Petar Krstich Serbian Orthodox Choir at the Holy Resurrection Church in Steubenville, Ohio from 1961 until his retirement in 2008. He was a well-known arranger and composer of Liturgical and Folk music and he won numerous honors and awards within the Serbian Singing Federation. Many of his compositions and arrangements are used by choirs throughout the SSF. Slobodan Zelich fell asleep in the Lord on February 5, 2013. 

 

Kosta and Sophia Papich ScholarshipKosta and Sophia Papich Scholarship (New 2022)


Kosta Papich was a devoted member of the Isidor Bajich Choir of Akron, Ohio and an outstanding officer of the Serbian Singing Federation serving in various offices including the Presidency from 1977-1979. Upon the founding of the Kosovo Men’s Choir Kosta served as its first president. He was president and manager of Belgrade Gardens which was a long-standing family owned restaurant in Barberton, Ohio. Kosta was a true
Serbian patriot and supported everything Serbian. Both he and Sophia were extremely involved in the Serbian Orthodox Church where they were huge benefactors of the Serbian Church in the U.S. and Serbia. Kosta was proud to raise funds for the completion of the St. Sava Cathedral on Vracar in Belgrade. Kosta received the Order of St. Sava Medal from the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1991.


Sophia has been a lifetime member of the Isidor Bajich Choir and appeared as a soloist throughout the U.S. delighting audiences with Serbian Sevdalinke songs as only Sophia could sing them! She appeared many times as a soloist at SSF Festivals where she was crowned “Princess of Sevdah Singing.”