On Feb. 22 a select group of students from Branham, Del Mar, Leigh, Prospect and Westmont high schools will demonstrate their musical talents hoping to win one of several scholarships being awarded by the Country Woman's Club of Campbell.

Since its founding in 1905, the club has worked to preserve Campbell's history, encourage women to become involved in humanitarian and social interests and promote education and the arts. It is with this third goal in mind that the club established an endowment fund for academic art and music scholarships.

For more than 20 years the club has awarded monetary recognition to the top music students in the Campbell High School District.

"At first we referred to the scholarship as mini-music awards because the amounts were small, but through fundraising and the success of our crab and pasta dinner year after year, we now give away a total of $1,250 to first, second and third place finishers in the categories of string, piano, voice and wind/percussion," says Roberta Howe, who has been the event's chairwoman since 1999.

This year in conjunction with the club's 100th anniversary, the stakes are even higher.

"In recognition of the club's 100th anniversary we will be awarding an additional $500 to an outstanding senior female performer," Howe says.

Howe says the performances are top notch, with club members continually commenting on the youths' professionalism, talent and how poised the teens appear during their performances. As evidence of the talent level of the young performers, Howe says each year two students from the district-level contest are sent to perform in a statewide competition.

"Twice we have had students place in that competition," Howe says referring to former Del Mar student and violinist Mark Oshida's 1999 placement and former Branham student and pianist Joseph Rich's 2002 third-place finish.

"Right now, my former students aren't old enough to participate, but in the next couple of years they will start entering high school and I look forward to seeing them take part in this competition," says Howe, who teaches at various elementary schools in the area including Carlton and Nodding, which feed into Leigh High School. "I am excited for the time when they will be awesome high school musicians."

One of this year's competition judges Linda Clements understands how Howe feels.

A music teacher at Fisher Middle School in Los Gatos, Clements spent a portion of her 20 years teaching at Campbell Middle School.

"While at Campbell Middle School, I got a chance to see some of my students enter high school and participate in this competition," she says.

Because she is no longer affiliated with the Campbell Union School District, Clements is free to judge the competition.

"We look for lots of different things including tone quality, rhythmic accuracy, intonation, overall musicality, articulation and dynamics," Clements says. "I am generally very impressed with the overall ability of the students."

Stephen Hooper, a music teacher at Prospect High School says his students are very excited about the upcoming competition. Hooper is also grateful for the support the club has provided to the arts over the years.

"I think the club is exceedingly generous and it shows that art is still important to people," Hooper says, "The more visibility the students get the better off we all will be."

And this year's change of venue will allow more people to see the competition.

"This year, because it's our 100th year anniversary, we are holding the event at the Heritage Theatre," Howe says. "We usually have it at the Congregational Church of Campbell, so this year we will have much more room. The public is really encouraged to come out and fill the seats so the kids have a great audience to perform for."

The competition is scheduled for Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Heritage Theater, 1 W. Campbell Ave. The public is encouraged to attend and the event is free. For more information call the theater box office at 408.866.2700.