High Life / A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Teens Reach Arts Contest Semifinals

Seventeen teen-agers from Orange County have been named semifinalists in the fourth annual Music Center Spotlight Awards competition, sponsored by the Pacific Telesis Foundation.

Twelve students (two in each category) will be chosen as finalists in this month and February. Students are competing in the categories of ballet, modern dance, opera, pop vocal, jazz and classical instrumental music for scholarships totaling $45,000.

In the ballet category, the county’s semifinalists are Santa Ana’s Stephanie Balmer, who attends Saddleback High; Westminster’s Lisa Cheley, who attends the Orange County High School of the Arts in Los Alamitos; Cypress’ Amanda Cramp, who attends Wallenburg Traditional High School in San Francisco; Garden Grove’s Tina Nunes, who attends Garden Grove High, and Huntington Beach’s Rebecca Thompson, who attends Ocean View High.

The semifinalists in pop vocal are Fullerton’s Scott Cheek, who attends OCHSA, and Laguna Hills’ Adrienne Stiefel, who attends Mission Viejo High.

In the opera category, the semifinalists are Fullerton’s Daniel Charles, who attends Los Alamitos High; Irvine’s April Crane, who attends University High, and Garden Grove’s Monique Powell, who attends OCHSA.

Los Alamitos’ Shauna Bradford, who attends Los Alamitos High, is a semifinalist in modern dance.

The semifinalists in classical instrumental music are Huntington Beach’s Dylan Chan, who attends Marina High; Irvine’s Olivia Herman and Yu-Jen Lu, who attend University High; Fullerton’s Jessica Mok, who attends Sunny Hills High; Fountain Valley’s Yury Park, who attends Fountain Valley High, and San Clemente’s Wendy Tahara, who attends San Clemente High.

Performances by the finalists will take place March 10 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.

Designed to encourage interest in space science and exploration, “Solarfest ‘92” will be held at La Quinta High School from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday.

With the theme “Exploring a New Horizon,” the second annual event will feature guest speakers, information booths and displays.

Among the scheduled speakers are Joel Sercel from JPL, who will talk about space exploration, and Paul Paris-Coker from McDonnell Douglas, who will talk about space stations.

Information booths will be set up by the Planetary Society, Orange County Space Society, Los Angeles’ Science and Industry Museum, U.S. Space Camps of Alabama and Florida, Orange County Astronomers and the Griffith Park Observatory.

On display will be an exhibit of solar system photography, astronomy artwork by Chris Butler and NASA moon rocks. In addition, telescopes will be available for public use beginning at 7:30 p.m. Refreshments are also available.

There is no admission charge for “Solarfest ’92.” La Quinta High is at 10372 McFadden Ave., Garden Grove. For further information, contact Mark Tuan D. Nguyen at (714) 775-0595.

“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.”

--Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)