22 Students Named State Arts Scholars

Twenty-two Ventura County students will be honored this month for outstanding achievement in dance, animation, creative writing, visual arts, music, film, video, theater and crafts.

The junior high and high school students were named California arts scholars after being admitted to the California State Summer School for the Arts, said Elena Brokaw, a spokeswoman with Ventura’s Office of Cultural Affairs.

The four-week summer program is considered one of the most prestigious high school arts workshops in the nation, Brokaw said.

This year, more than 1,000 students statewide applied for the four-week summer course, but 613 were admitted, she said.

Ventura County is sending one of the largest contingents, with students from Oak Park, Camarillo, Simi Valley, Oxnard and Ventura, Brokaw said.

Some of the students will get scholarships to a summer session at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia while the others will pay tuition, she said.

The Office of Cultural Affairs will present all of them with bronze medallions at a private reception May 30, she said. The city honors talented high school artists to encourage them to pursue those interests after high school, Brokaw said.

“We like to encourage young people to be involved in the arts. And the ceremony gives the kids recognition that they are not used to,” she said.

The winners: from Oak Park High, Ean Mering; from Camarillo High, John Adams, Brandon Minster and Lisa Haney; from Los Alto Intermediate School in Camarillo, William Roche; from Laurel Springs High, a home schooling program in Ojai, Megan Krekorian; from Simi Valley High, Bryan Norton, Kristine Zantua, Blaine Bowman, Shawna Hearn, Tim Hawkinson, Gary Christianson, David Klug, Peter Ko and Kimberly Riley; from Buena High in Ventura, Amanda McTigue and David Starfas; from Ventura High, Mercedes Carter and Justin Messina; from Rio Mesa High, Joseph Perez and Matthew Johner; and from Sequoia Junior High in Simi Valley, Heidi Bensman.