Стипендия Долли Партон помогла студенту из Гатлинберга переехать в Нэшвилл для обучения песенному мастерству

Dolly Parton Scholarship helps aspiring musician move to Nashville to study songwriting at Belmont University The Gatlinburg native told WBIR that scholarship helped him enroll and move into a dorm at Belmont. What This Story Is About - The Dolly Parton Scholarship helped send a Tennessee student to Nashville to study songwriting. For Context - Gavin Harper was one of five Sevier County seniors to receive The Dolly Parton Scholarship, according to WBIR. Catch Up NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A student at Belmont University in Nashville is pursuing his dream career in songwriting thanks to the support of the late Queen of Country, Dolly Parton. WBIR reports that Gavin Harper was one of five Sevier County seniors to receive The Dolly Parton Scholarship, which helped them attend college. The Gatlinburg native told WBIR that scholarship helped him enroll and move into a dorm at Belmont. He learned of his sponsor’s death during his first week of classes. “Everything got, like, really thin around me, like paper thin,” Harper told WBIR. ”Just because it was like all of a sudden it just, like, hit me like that. I just realized she’s a huge reason why I’m here right now. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.” He told WBIR Parton left an impact on every Tennessean and helped shape the Volunteer State. “Not every person in East Tennessee can say that they actually met Dolly Parton, but every single person in East Tennessee feels like Dolly Parton meant something to them because she did,” he said in an interview to WBIR. “Losing her is kind of like losing our identity in a way, but also I feel like she’s the one that gave us that identity and we can kind of carry that on because I think that, you know, with her being so generous and kind, I think that it’s passed a really good attitude onto our area as well.” Copyright 2026 WSMV. All rights reserved.