Past Dance
Scholarship Winners

Remembering Sam Ford dance scholarships are presented each year to SOPA Competition Group dancers at The Studio of Performing Arts. These scholarships are created from proceeds raised during our annual SamFest fundraising event. Winners must demonstrate a commitment to dance through attendance and passion, as well as answer a prompt inspired by the perseverance and tenacity of Sam.

Quinn Garrity was so grateful to be chosen as a Samantha Ford Scholarship winner last year. She is 12 years old and in the 7th grade. Quinn is a great student at school and at dance. At school she excels at math (thank you, tap!), science and language. She’s been dancing at SOPA since she was 3 and her passion for dance has grown with each year. This is her sixth year on the performance team. Her favorite genres of dance are hip hop and contemporary. She is very excited to perform her solo this year because it combines both of those styles. When Quinn isn’t at the studio taking classes or rehearsing, she enjoys learning about and practicing styles of hair and makeup, baking various treats, spending time with friends and making silly videos with her brother. She lives up to Sam’s motto of “why walk through life when you can dance” as she can be constantly found time-stepping (with or without tap shoes), kick-ball-changing or moonwalking everywhere she goes. She’s even been known to tap dance on the bases while she’s playing softball. And while Quinn is too young to have known Samantha, she shares Sam’s passion for dance, her love for movement and her joy at spending time with her friends at SOPA. The scholarship has really helped continue to make her dance dreams come to life and she will be forever grateful to have been selected.

2023 Winners

JORDAN "JOJO" HERMAN
ANNASTASIA LOYA
EMMA MCCALL
MADELINE SCHACHERER

2020 Winners

HAILEY CHEW
CADENCE CLIFT
MAYA LOWRIE
JADYN TREVINO

2017 Winners

PARKER LOWRIE
SARENA SCHENCK

2014 Winners

DESTINY CLOUD
MAYA LOWRIE

2011 Winner

CHEYANNA PRELESNIK

2022 Winners

MAYA CUNNINGHAM
EMY HERMAN
QUINN GARRITY
RYAN GARRITY

2019 Winners

SHANE CHEW
MAYA LOWRIE
CARLIE PASKETT
TRISHA WADLE

2016 Winners

BRITNY CLOUD
KRISTA ROBERTSON

2013 Winners

JORDAN CURIEL
JEREMIAH RAMOS

2021 Winners

CADENCE CLIFT
CARLEI HERMAN
BRIANNA TOEPFER

2018 Winners

CADENCE CLIFT
LEVI CLIFT
MEGAN FISHER
WYATT ARMITAGE
HANNAH RATCLIFF

2015 Winners

REBEKAH HICKEY
MEGAN LEATHERS

2012 Winners

CASSANDRA ARELLANO
JADYN TREVINO