17-Year-Old Wins Music Competition

Olivia Herman, 17, a senior at University High School in Irvine, has won first prize and $250 in the 1992 Westminster Music Competition for her original composition, “Pierrot.”

The national contest is conducted annually by Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. Herman’s 10-piece chamber work for winds, strings and piano had its premiere last November in a concert sponsored by the Yamaha Education Foundation at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.

Herman has been accepted at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, the Music Conservatory of Oberlin College in Ohio, the Juilliard School as one of three undergraduate composers. And says Samuel Adler, chairman of the composition department at the Eastman Conservatory in Rochester, N.Y., “she’s our number one choice.”

Irvine High School, winner of this year’s Southern California title, was among 180 schools competing recently in the seventh annual United Spirit Assn.’s national championship at UC Irvine. More than 250 teams participated in 16 divisions, covering various aspects of cheerleading, including song-leading, pep flag and mascot performance.

Among 35 finalists, there were six Orange County teams. Marina High School of Huntington Beach placed among the top four in the “show” cheer category and a song-leading event. Mater Dei of Santa Ana placed in the “show” cheer competition for boy-girl teams and in large-school song-leading. Irvine High’s all-girl “show” cheer squad made it to the small-school finals, as did a team from Santa Margarita High.

A high school senior from San Diego won first place in the regional finals of the California Citizen Bee, which was recently held in Costa Mesa.

The nationwide history and social studies competition is sponsored by the Close Up Foundation.

Derek Henderson of Helix High School qualifies for the state finals this month in Los Angeles along with second- and third-place finishers Brent Schultheis of Laguna Hills High School and Chad Olson of Dana Hills.

The three beat 22 others from Orange and San Diego county high schools to advance to the state finals. The winners of the state competition will travel to Washington for the national finals. National winners will receive prizes ranging from $2,000 to $12,000.

The Close Up Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization based in Washington. GTE California sponsored the regional competition.

“The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”

--Unknown