Community: Northwest Glendale Lions award scholarships

Northwest Glendale Lions awarded three scholarships of $1,000 each to special needs students of Glendale Community College and Hoover High School at a luncheon meeting on May 24. Recipients are Natasha Lynn Desianto, of Glendale Community College, and David Corral-Mancilla and Daniel Marin of Hoover High School.

Special guests attending included school board member Mary Boger, counselor Monica Lewis from Hoover High School, and parents of the recipients.

Ryan Nekota was chairman of the Scholarship Committee.

Desianto has a 4.0 GPA and is majoring in anthropology at GCC. She will attend the University of Norway in September.

“I am very interested in Viking archaeology … and I have to come up with all of my own funding for this. I can’t take any loans from the U.S. government because I’m going abroad to study, so it has been a challenge; but this helps tremendously,” she said.

Marin, 18, is a senior at Hoover High School and has 3.5 GPA. He plays football, runs cross-country and is on the track team. He runs 9 to 10 miles every day and will run a marathon this year. He plans to attend GCC, transfer to a four-year university with a major in physical education and then return to Hoover to become a PE teacher and coach.

David, 17, a senior at Hoover, has a 2.6 GPA. He plans to attend GCC and hopes to transfer to UC San Diego to study marine biology. David thanked his mom, Maria Corral, for giving him the support that he needs. His father passed away last year and his mother is not working, so he needs the scholarship to continue his education, he said.

“I would also like to thank my mother even more because her mother also passed away this year,” he said. “So thank you very much for the opportunity for this scholarship. It’s just very helpful, thank you.”

One of the scholarships is provided by the Robert E. Davies Memorial fund, established in honor of the former member. Another is provided by the scholarship fund created by former member Roy Biederman. And the third scholarship is provided by the family of member Donald Ainsworth II, who died earlier this year and was chairman of this committee for several years. His widow, Ginny Ainsworth, attended the meeting.

Northwest Glendale Lions have awarded more than $75,000 in scholarships in the 24 years since the program began.

Woman’s master’s project on display

Jill Van Hoogenstyn of Glendale has her master’s project, “Transitions” — eight color photographs of downtown Los Angeles and people — on display in the Cal State Northridge Art Galleries through June 9. She is receiving her Master of Arts degree in Art, Visual Communications.

In her artist’s statement, she explains how the interplay of forms, lines and surfaces that populate the urban environment after dark suggest ambiguity, movement and mystery.

She uses a Rolleicord camera made in Germany in the 1950s because it captures images on a 2 1/4-by-2 1/4 -inch negative.

“You get a different effect than a 35mm negative,” she said. “You get more vertical depth and a sharper image.”

She uses color negative film, she said, and sets the camera on a tripod with long exposures, which opens up the lens and she decides how much light hits the film. The result is ghostlike figures amid solid architectural forms.

“The figures are not literal,” she said. “I wanted the figures to be ambiguous. I wanted the viewer to think, ‘what is going on there?’ You want the viewer to work a little bit more and they get more invested in it.” Now with the master’s degree in hand, Van Hoogenstyn will continue to focus on her photography and her drawing. Her work has already been in group exhibitions in Los Angeles and New York City.

Patrons’ Club presents scholarships

The Patrons’ Club of Glendale Community College presented scholarships during a luncheon hosted by the Culinary Arts Department at the Los Robles Cafe on campus.

There were 30 scholarships and 30 grants-in-aid given for a total of $23,500. Funds for scholarships are generated from the yearly Fashion Show and Silent Auction, which this year will be held on Nov. 2 at the Castaway Restaurant in Burbank.

Recipients are Ritika Pandita, Sona Ter-Yegisbyan, Walter Hardesty, Rauel Martinez, Nelli Sargsyan, George Skriabin, Narek Grigoryan, Christopher Mandalian, Raymond Sarkis, Lesly Ghiglino, William Fregozo, Sevada Hakopian, Hoolyaneb Bagdassaran, Daniel Caballeero, Jorge Arias, Alexander Barriga, Chelsea Bogdon, Ankeet Vakharia, Luisne Madoyan, Jaenbel Cayanan, Sarah Stone, Paul Marmorstein, Tomas Pascali, Natalie Haritoonian, Ivan Abarenox, Daisy Mohandassi, Derek Flores, and Susanne Chion.

These students are all transferring to four-year universities.

The Scholarship Committee members are Judy Gorham, Julie Barrabee, Pat Beggs, Jan Craig, Leila Layseca, Betty Musacco, Betty Myers, Carolyn Payne and Karen Wharton.

JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.