Jack and Pat Fariss Endowed Scholarship for Music Education

This endowed scholarship was established in honor of Jack and Pat Fariss by former students of Jack. Jack Fariss (M. MusEd. SHSU) attended Blinn College in Brenham, Texas where he changed his primary instrument from cornet to French horn. He transferred to Sam Houston State Teacher’s College [now SHSU], and he met Pat Harvey (B. MusEd. SHSU), a clarinet player, on the fifty yard-line while marching a diamond drill in the Bearkat Band. They married on Homecoming Day in 1962, and both went on to earn their music education degrees. Jack taught at both the Shepherd !SD and Tidehaven ISDs before taking over the band program at Pearland High School in Pearland Texas in 1969. Pat and Jack raised their two daughters Kristin and Rhonda there. Under Jack’s direction, the concert bands of Pearland High School received many honors, including TMEA AAAAA Honor Band, as well as Outstanding Band awards at festivals in Texas, Florida, and Washington, D. C. With thirty-jive consecutive years of first divisions in marching, the “Pride of Pearland” Band qualified for the UIL State Marching Contest almost every AAAAA competition year since the contest’s inception and performed in the finals on numerous occasions. Jack also served as President of the Texas Bandmasters Association in 1987. Pat Fariss taught private clarinet lessons to many of the students through the years, as well as teaching elementary music for the District, and lending all the support possible to the Pearland band programs. Their twenty-nine year devotion to music education in Pearland, and even places beyond, extended to thousands of students, and the Pearland Band Alumni and Friends are honored to create this scholarship in their names.