Shannon Boutwell
Major: Violin Performance and Piano Performance with Pedagogy
Hometown: Helena, Alabama
Prior to beginning her Samford studies, Shannon was a Harvest Homeschool student from Helena, AL. She graduated in spring 2022 with top academic honors and was accepted into the Eta Sigma Alpha National Honor Society, the National Homeschool Science Honor Society, and the National Honor Society of  High School Scholars. She was selected as Samford University’s 2022 Miller-Shepherd piano scholar and is also the inaugural Nancy Wingard scholar. As a competitive violinist and pianist, Shannon has won numerous awards including first place in the GCSS Regional Concerto Competition, first place in the Bush Hills Music Club Competition, and the Allegro Music Club Scholarship. She is a five-time winner in the AMTA State Piano Solo Competition, a two-time winner in the BMTA Musical Miniatures Competition, and a three-time winner in the Donna Shugart Sonata Competition. As a soloist, Shannon was a featured performer for Violins of Hope, performed as an on-screen character in feature film “Quiet Nights” (directed by T.W. Ballew) and played violin for the movie soundtrack, and was the soloist for BHEC’s “L’Chaim!” 2021. 
 
An avid orchestral violinist, Shannon has played in the Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra for five years and began serving as the concertmaster at age fifteen. She was also accepted into Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra in 2021, and she is a member of the Samford University Orchestra, the Lakeside Orchestra, RUF Worship Band, and other local and state ensembles. She is the founder and first violinist of the Candy Crush Quartet, a string quartet dedicated to music education and children’s ministry, and she serves as a first-grade Sunday school teacher and children’s worship director at Lakeside Baptist Church. Eager to combine elite musical training, passion for the arts, and ministry, Shannon runs a private music studio where she holds a roster of piano and violin students of all ages. In addition to her musical and academic pursuits, Shannon has been a dancer for ten years and trained in ballet, pointe, lyrical/contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, and violin en pointe. Her career goals include solo and orchestral performing on piano and violin, working in children’s and music ministry, and founding/directing a school of the arts.