CALIFORNIA, Md. (June 11, 2011)—The Charles County Arts Alliance awarded seven scholarships totaling $7,000 to Charles County students in furtherance of higher education leading to careers in the arts. A $1,000 arts scholarship was awarded to a graduating senior at each of the six county high schools and a student at the College of Southern Maryland during the week of June 1.
The Arts Alliance's Arts Scholarship Program has been in existence since 1996, and over the past 15 years thousands of dollars have been awarded to encourage and assist Charles County's many gifted student artists, performers, and writers to continue their formal education at institutions of higher learning all over the United States.
"The mission of the Charles County Arts Alliance is to promote the arts in our county, and one of the most important ways we do this is by investing in the future arts education of our very talented young people," said Arts Alliance president Diane Rausch. "In their future careers in the exciting world of music, visual art, drama, dance and literature, they will contribute their creative energies and share their unique insights with our society as a whole."
"The Arts Alliance works very closely in partnership with the Charles County Public Schools to ensure the most qualified of students are selected for our arts scholarships," added Arts Scholarship coordinator Cindy Johnson. "This year's seven recipients are truly deserving of this honor."
The 2011 Arts Scholarship recipients are:
-- Karyn Raub of the College of Southern Maryland. Karen is majoring in visual art and is continuing her studies at the College of Southern Maryland.
-- Crystal Montgomery of Thomas Stone High School. Crystal plans to major in photography and will attend the College of Southern Maryland.
-- Melissa Reen of La Plata High School. Melissa plans to major in visual art at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
-- Helayna Roberts of Henry Lackey High School. Helayna plans to major in visual art/photography at Hofstra University.
-- Nicholas P. Teleky of North Point High School. Nicholas plans to major in music at Tufts University.
-- Tony Vo of Westlake High School. Tony plans to major in theatre and will attend the College of Southern Maryland.
-- Amber King of Maurice McDonough High School. Amber plans to major in music at Marshall University.
Founded in 1987, the Charles County Arts Alliance is a nonprofit 501-c-3 charitable organization. For more information, visit the CCAA website at www.charlescountyarts.org or call 301-392-5900.