STATE OF THE ART

Elora Sparnicht (CW, ‘23) became the Orange County Poetry Out Loud Champion and was featured in an article by the Los Angeles Times Daily Pilot.

To view the article, please visit https://lat.ms/3w04Noz

Kiana Keli`i (IM, ‘21) was one of 10 nominees selected from the South Region as a finalist for the California Scholarship Federation Seymour Memorial Award. She was then honored as the South Region winner for her dedication to service, academics, and raising awareness of the cultural diversity of Pacific Islanders.

The Orange County Register announced the semifinalists for the 8th Annual Artist of the Year Awards. The Artist of the Year program honors talented students across the county for their accomplishments in the arts.

Computer-Assisted Visual Arts:
Computer Drawing and Painting
Eden Haymond (DM, ‘21)
Ashley Yang (VA, ‘22)

Dance:
Commercial Dance
Danielle Silver (CMD, ‘22)
Dawson Charles Walker (CMD, ‘21)
Concert Dance
Corah Abbott (CCD, ‘21)
World and Cultural Dance
Maya Elizabeth Alvarez-Coyne (CMD, ‘21)
Rodrigo Blanco (BF, ‘21)
Lucas McCollum-VanHoosear (BR, ‘22)

Film and Animation:
Directing and Editing
Ethan Chu (FTV, ‘21)
Johann Ren Collantes (FTV, ‘21)
Nolan Frech (FTV, ‘21)

Handcrafted Visual Arts:
Hand Drawing and Painting
Joyce Lee (VA, ‘21)
Mixed Media
Junzhu Zhang (VA, ‘21)
Sculpting and Metalwork
Juhyun Park (VA, ‘21)

Instrumental Music:
Jazz
Gianna Pedregon (IM, ‘21) - Violin
Piano and Strings
Hannah Noh (IM, ‘21) - Piano

Theater:
Acting
Mia Kaplan (MT, ‘21)
Musical Theater Performance
Ava Kuntz (CV, ‘21)
Madison E. Osment (MT, ‘21)
Charlee Rubino (MT, ‘21)

Vocal Music:
Classical Voice
Ava Kuntz (CV, ‘21)
Commercial Voice
Michele Lu (PM, ‘21)

The Orange County Register announced the finalists for the 8th Annual Artist of the Year Awards. The Artist of the Year program honors talented students across the county for their accomplishments in the arts.

Vocal Music - Commercial Voice
Ye Ji Kim (PM ‘21)

Vocal Music - Classical Voice
Catherine Johnston (CV ‘21)

Dance - Concert Dance
Corah Abbott (CCD, ‘21)

Dance - World/Cultural Dance
Maya Elizabeth Alvarez-Coyne (CMD, ‘21)

Handcrafted Visual Arts - Mixed Media
Junzhu Zhang (VA, ‘21)

Handcrafted Visual Arts - Sculpting and metalwork
Juhyun Park (VA, ‘21)

Film and Animation - Directing and Editing
Noah Frech (FTV, ‘21)

Instrumental Music - Winds and Percussion
Brian Lin (alto sax) (IM, ‘21)

Theatre - Acting
Ariyah Brown (ACT, ‘22)

The Orange County Register announced the winners for the 8th Annual Artist of the Year Awards, and OCSA had four winners this year! The Artist of the Year program honors talented students across the county for their accomplishments in the arts.

Artist of the Year Winners:
Nolan Hieu Trifunovic (FTV, ‘21) - Film and Animation
Catherine Johnston (CV, ‘21) - Vocal Music
Ariyah Brown (ACT, ‘22) - Theater
Brian Lin (IM, ‘21) - Instrumental Music (Alto Sax)

The following students were recognized as Grand Prize Finalists in The Music Center’s 33rd Annual Spotlight Program out of more than 1,500 applicants. Spotlight is a nationally acclaimed arts training and scholarship program for teens that awards more than $100,000 in cash scholarships annually. The students were selected among only 14 Grand Prize Finalists who will perform in a virtual grand finale event and receive a $5,000 scholarship.

Emmy Cheung (CMD, ‘22) - Dance
Catherine Johnston (CV, ‘21) - Classical Voice
Ava Kuntz (CV, ‘21) - Classical Voice

The following students were selected to be part of the Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association (SCSBOA) Middle School and High School Honor Orchestras.

Middle School:
Hannah M. Cho (IM, ‘25) - Oboe
Samuel J. Chung (IM, ‘25) - Alto Saxophone
Juneau Foxlin (IM, ‘26) - Double Bass
Tiffani Hsu (PD, ‘26) - Flute
Miri Izenberg (IM, ‘26) - Trumpet
Allie S. Molin (IM, ‘25) - Trumpet
Jaehee Park (IM, ‘26) - Violin
Keilah Y. Park (IM, ‘25) - Horn
Benjamin Y. Quil (IM, ‘26) - Violin
Katherine J. Shinogi (IM, ‘25) - Clarinet

High School:
Darren Qiu (IM, ‘24) - Alto Saxophone
Elliot Shiwota (IM, ‘22) - Percussion
Helaine Zhao (IM, ‘24) - Piano

Samara Kohne (CV, ‘24) was accepted into the Colorado Vocal Institute for this summer.

The OCSA Science Olympiad High School Team (Division C) competed in the Southern California State competition. The team earned the following awards:

2nd Place
Codebusters: Anjal Jain (CV, ‘22), Joshua Qin (BR, ‘23), and Jeffrey Yang (CV, ’24)

5th Place
Amazing Mechatronics: Nathan Tatsuta (IM, ‘24) and Isabelle Tran (VA, ‘22)
Experimental and Data Analysis: Katherine Given (ACT, ’24), Joshua Qin (BR, ‘23), and Samantha Su (VA, ‘21)
Helicopters: Sameer Bajaj (ACT, ‘24) and Vivian Chen (IM, ‘23)

Mikayla Fleming (CCD, ‘24) was accepted to three summer intensives: Alonzo King Lines Ballet Summer Intensive, University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) Contemporary Program with a special invitation to the Professional Program, and Boston Ballet Summer Intensive.

Hailey Riley (MT, ‘25) earned first place in Floor and Vault and became the All-Around Regional Champion for Level Seven (Senior B) in the USA Gymnastics Region 1 Finals competition.

Gianna Pedregon (IM, ‘21) wrote an article for Strings magazine titled “Creative Freedom: How Jazz and the 5-string Violin have Unlocked a World of Infinite Musical Possibility.”

To read the full article, please visit https://bit.ly/3hzfudZ

Hana Uehara (BR, ‘23) was accepted into Harvard University's Summer Pre-College Program.

Michele Lu (PM, ‘21) was selected as a semifinalist in the 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts competition and will advance to the final round. The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars will ultimately choose 20 students to be recognized for their academic and artistic accomplishments, leadership, community outreach, and overall creativity.

Mia Soumbasakis (CW, ‘22) was honored as a 2021 Outstanding Volunteer by the OneOC Spirit of Volunteerism Awards for her service work with Lion’s Heart Teen Volunteers and Leaders.

The following students, as a part of the Free To Be Me Studio Performance Arts Academy Dynamix Competition Team, auditioned and were selected to represent Team USA at the World Championships of Performing Arts 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. They will compete against 61 other countries at the worldwide competition next fall. Several of the numbers the troupe auditioned with were musically directed and arranged by OCSA faculty member Jamond McCoy. To read more about their journey, please visit https://bit.ly/3w2ZGEc

Cynthia Allen (IA, ‘25)
Lillie Atkins (IA, ‘25)
India Dawson (PM, ‘25)
Gwendalyn Heredia (IA, ‘26)
Angelina Kidder (MT, ‘26)
Hailey Knowles (IA, ‘25)
Sofia Naccarato (IA, ‘23)
Vinnie Naccarato (PM, ‘25)
Kaylee Nagata (IA, ‘26)
Simone Ponsford (IA, ‘26)
Chloe Reyes (IA, ‘27)
Zachary Sadeghian (IA, ‘26)
Delilah Summers (IA, ‘25)

Meghan Barton (MT, ‘23) was awarded the Undergraduate Scholarship from the California State Thespian Society to attend Broadway Artists Alliance Summer Intensive. She also received the highest rank of “Superior” for her performance of the "Meadowlark" solo from The Baker's Wife.

Sisters Ayiah Soufi (IA, ‘26) and Ellie Soufi (PM) were featured on the cover of the April 2021 issue of ALL EYES Magazine with an eight-page spread. ALL EYES Magazine is an international digital and print magazine that showcases young talent from all over the world.

Emilia Djordjevic (IM, ‘23) opened her own online store via Spreadshirt to sell her designs.

Hannah Cho (IM, ‘25) became the grand prize winner of the Mount San Antonio College Solo Competition. She also won first place in the Middle School Division of the competition.

Sarah Anderson (MT, ‘22) and Zach Hoffman (ACT, ‘22) performed in an outdoor production of "Be More Chill" with Braver Players Musical Theater Foundation.

Olivia Le (IA, ‘25) won the Poetry Division in the OC Fair Imaginology Competition.

Matthew Anderson (IM, ‘23) was selected as a 2021 Performing Arts Scholarship winner by the Friends of Cypress Cultural Arts organization. He was awarded a $450 scholarship for the performance of Scherzo Fantastique by Alfred Reed on bass clarinet.

Daniel Grossgold (IA, ‘24) was named a 2021 Expressions Challenge Finalist through Expressions by Walgreens, which encourages high school students to express themselves creatively through media projects.

Alyssa Kardos (ACT, ‘17) was selected to be a 2021 Fulbright Scholar and was featured in an article by Georgetown University’s School of Nursing & Health Studies. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program sends American scholars and professionals abroad to lecture or conduct research for up to one year. After graduating from Georgetown University this year, Alyssa will be teaching English in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

To view the article, please visit https://bit.ly/3uNC4TS

Tisha Custodio (ACT, ‘19) was featured in an article by the Orange County Register about her recent casting in a lead role of the Disney+ original series Big Shot.

To read the article, please visit https://bit.ly/2QihXhs

Anna Antongiorgi (CCD, ‘15) released a book of poems titled refinding the rules of gravity through Finishing Line Press.

U.S. News & World Report released their 2021 national rankings for best high schools, and Orange County School of the Arts was named the 38th best high school in the State of California and the 273rd best high school nationwide. Of the Orange County schools represented on the list, OCSA ranks 3rd in the county.

To view their website, please visit https://bit.ly/2SMHqQZ

Orange County School of the Arts was one of only 33 schools in the state to receive the California Exemplary Arts Education Award from the California Department of Education for 2021. The California Exemplary Arts Education Award celebrates schools that have made a successful effort to engage students in the arts through exposure to a variety of disciplines.

Christine Choi, Special Services Administrative Assistant and conservatory instructor, received the Arts in Special Education Award as part of the 2021 Orange County Music and Arts Awards, which recognizes outstanding arts educators in the county whose leadership has impacted their school, district, and community. The Arts in Special Education Award honors an educator who delivers exceptional arts instruction to students with disabilities and fosters inclusion in their school community.

OCSA teachers Sarah Gonzalez, Mathieu Girardet, and Kimberly Cantley were also nominated for this award.