Students from Virginia and Ohio will study music at Bluffton University with the help of scholarships they earned as winners of Bluffton’s 2015 Performing Scholar Competition.

Mary Bender of Harrisonburg, Va., and Cassandra Steiner of Celina, Ohio, have been awarded renewable scholarships valued at $80,000 and $72,000, respectively, over four years.

Bender plans to major in music education with a focus on vocal study, while Steiner intends to major in music with an eye toward pursuing both music and art therapy.

A 2013 graduate of Eastern Mennonite School, Bender was a member of its select touring choir during her last two years in high school, where she also participated in various plays and musicals. She then attended Hesston (Kan.) College, a two-year school where the soprano was a member of the Bel Canto Singers for both years, ran cross country last fall and was a student ambassador. She is the daughter of Eric and LuAnn Bender of Harrisonburg.

Also a soprano, Steiner is a 2015 graduate of Celina High School, where she was active in fall plays and spring musicals, as well as in volleyball and several art shows. The Bluffton native was also a member of National Honor Society and the German Club. Her parents are Jesse, a 1994 Bluffton graduate, and Christa Steiner.

Edwin Martin of Goshen, Ind., was also named a winner of the third annual competition, but he subsequently received the university’s full-tuition Presidential Scholarship.

Incoming Bluffton students who intend to major in music or music education are eligible to enter the Performing Scholar Competition with a grade point average of at least 3.2 or a minimum score of 22 on the ACT or 1050 on the SAT. Following this year’s initial auditions, seven contestants were invited back for the finals, held during Bluffton’s spring-semester Masterworks Concert.