Lea Grace Swinson, 17-year-old vocalist from Dorchester, was awarded a four-year full-tuition scholarship to Berklee College of Music on Tues., Aug. 8.

Swinson, who grew up in Codman Square, has been singing since she was 4-years-old. Now a student at Belmont High School, she was awarded the sscholarship along with four other teens after the Berklee Five-Week Summer Performance Program, a program part of Berklee City Music that delivers high-quality contemporary music education instruction to youth at little to no cost.

“The Five-Week Program is honestly amazing, to me especially,” said Swinson. “Yes, it’s very high demand if you are exceptionally talented because you get put in all of these higher-level classes and many ensembles, but at the same time it gives you this adrenaline rush that keeps you going the whole time.”

“It just puts you in an element where you finally feel a certain connect[ion] with everyone in the building because you all have this same love for music that keeps you bonded in a special way. I learned so much from the classes on ways to increase my musical and theoretical knowledge,” she said.

Swinson describes herself as a versatile singer with a broad interest in genres. Her musical inspiration comes not from famous singers, but from her peers.

“[My biggest musical inspirations] are my fellow music friends, and all of the musicians I come in contact with because there’s always ways that others think of or adapt to music in a way that I never [have] and it’s always so interesting to me, so much [so] that it changes the way I listen to music or even the way I make music,” she said. “Ultimately music makes me feel liberated, like I’m able to do anything.”

A true triple-threat, Swinson not only enjoys singing, but dancing and acting, too. She’s participated in school musicals like Chicago and has taken Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop and Ballet classes at the Roxbury Center for Performing Arts.

When asked about the area of concentration she plans to study at Berklee, she said, “I hope to study Performance and the aspects it takes to become a great performer. I’m also excited about being in a music environment 24/7 and hopefully that will teach me new things and help me reach my goals.”

Her career objective is to become a successful musician and Berklee will put her on the fast-track to obtaining her dream.

“It honestly still doesn’t feel real because it has been my dream to go to Berklee ever since I was about nine, and now that I’m going to the school of my dreams on a full scholarship is just unbelievable and I’m so grateful,” she said.

The other four recipients of the 2017 Berklee City Music College Scholarship are Jadan Graves from Memphis, TN, Ricky Persaud Jr. from Irvington, NJ, Brian Richburg from New Orleans, LA and Lizzie Zink from Westerville, OH.