For Immediate Release:
Santa Ana, Calif.–June 9, 2023–Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) is thrilled to celebrate the success of its class of 2023. The school's 397 incredible seniors accepted their high school diplomas and will now spread out across 23 states and three countries to attend a variety of colleges, universities and conservatories, including: Berklee College of Music; Brown University; Cal State Schools; Carnegie Mellon University; Cornell University; Dartmouth College; Duke University; Emerson College; Harvard University; King’s College London; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Princeton University; Stanford University; UC Schools; University of Southern California; Yale University and more.
While attending OCSA, many of these impressive seniors were honored with various accolades and awards, including: the Orange County Register’s OC Artist of the Year; U.S. Presidential Scholars; the President’s Volunteer Service Award by AmeriCorps; the Music Center Spotlight Awards and more. Students also received awards specific to their art forms, including: honors at the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival; the culinary arts ProStart regional and national competitions; the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards; the Coltman Chamber Music Competition and many others.
This year, 98% of OCSA seniors were accepted into institutions of higher education, with 79% ultimately choosing to attend four-year colleges and 15% choosing to attend two-year colleges. Six percent of 2023 seniors at the school will enter the workforce or are planning to take a gap year.
OCSA’s newest graduating class also demonstrates immense academic excellence, collectively achieving an average GPA of 3.9 and receiving more than $10 million in scholarship offers. Additionally, 66 OCSA seniors will graduate as valedictorians with distinction (4.5-5.0 GPA), 169 will graduate as valedictorians (4.0-4.49 GPA) and 44 will graduate as salutatorians (3.75-3.99 GPA). To view more statistics related to OCSA’s class of 2023, click here.
“I am so proud to see off another inspiring class of OCSA students as they begin the next chapter of their lives. I know they will continue to do great things, and we will all be cheering them on as they forge ahead and make an impact on the world,” said Teren Shaffer, OCSA’s president and CEO.
The soon-to-be graduates will join OCSA’s esteemed group of alumni, who have taken the professional world by storm in their respective career fields, including:
- Alix Page, a 2020 graduate from OCSA’s Popular Music Conservatory, who recently released a new EP titled “Goose” and went on her first headlining tour as a singer-songwriter.
- Alyssa Carol, a 2018 graduate from OCSA’s Musical Theatre Conservatory, who was a performer in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Bad Cinderella” on Broadway.
- Tyler Logan, a 2013 graduate from OCSA’s Musical Theatre Conservatory, who is currently a member of the touring cast of Broadway’s “Moulin Rouge.”
- Michael Repper, a 2008 graduate from OCSA’s Instrumental Music Conservatory, who won the 2023 GRAMMY Award with the New York Youth Symphony for Best Orchestral Performance.
- Pedro Pascal, a 1993 graduate from OCSA’s Musical Theatre Conservatory, who has recently been the star of several popular films and television shows (“The Last of Us,” “The Mandalorian”).
The class of 2023 hosted its final OCSA performance and graduation ceremony on Thursday, June 8, 2023 at Cottonwood Church in Los Alamitos, Calif.