Community: Three seniors pick up women’s scholarships
Three Burbank High School graduating seniors were honored at the Burbank University Women’s Scholarship Tea at the home of Marcia Baroda May 10.
Receiving college scholarships were Seda Byrut and Valery Vasquez from Burbank High School and Jordan Bradley from Burroughs High School.
Seda was secretary of the Key Club, where she kept track of service hours for more than 400 students. For the Mock Trial organization on campus, she has been historian, secretary and now is president. One of her favorite community services is the Green Light Tennis Camp for children with Down syndrome.
She was nominated as an Advanced Placement Scholar by the College Board. She is a four-year letter winner on Burbank’s swim team, where she was captain of the team and received a Scholar Athletic Award. She plans to be a biology pre-med major at UC San Diego.
Valery has been secretary of the California Scholarship Federation Honors Society, in which she suggested ideas and led community service campaigns such as a sandwich-making project that provided 400 sandwiches each month for BTAC or Midnight Mission.
In the Medical Assn. Group, Valery showed her wish to pursue a career in medicine. Weekly topics about students’ interests were chosen, researched and discussed. She volunteered 300 hours toward bilingual assistance to kindergarten classes. She is bound for Stanford.
Jordan is a saxophonist who has been in the Burroughs marching band, jazz band and wind ensemble. She has been a member of the California Scholarship Federation for four years, and received the honor of Advanced Placement Scholar of Distinction.
She has been involved in the People to People program as a student ambassador to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and meeting members of Parliament.
She has tutored other students in French and math. Jordan plans to major in art history at USC.
Art commission introduces website
The city of Burbank’s Cultural Arts Commission has launched its website, www.burbankarts.com.
“This is the culmination of the commission’s vision for an interactive arts website to promote the arts in Burbank, said Lynda Willner, commission chairman. “The Web designer, the Pickle Group, translated it perfectly. “
The website will encourage a closer collaboration among artists and their audiences, and will promote every form of creativity and imagination, Willner added.
The site lists more than 50 cultural venues for dance, media, literature, music, theater, visual arts and museum exhibitions, as well as the various prominent arts groups in Burbank, Willner said.
There is also a Dining Plus page that lists restaurants tied to entertainment like music, dinner theater or comedy. In addition, the calendar helps anybody visiting Burbank find out what’s going on when and where.
“It is really a vibrant and robust arts website,” Willner said. “It’s also colorful and draws you in and makes the user want to know more.”
The site lists information on arts education programs and allows art lovers to post events or sign up for the Cultural Arts e-newsletter.
Media City Ballet takes new name
Burbank Media City Ballet has changed its name to Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre. The company has its first performance under the new name planned for 8:30 p.m. Aug. 17 at the Ford Theatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, in Hollywood.
The performance will be a retrospective of dance in America from the 1920s to today, and culminates with a special tribute to Michael Jackson. Music styles included in the show are hip hop, blues, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, pop, techno and rock ‘n’ roll.
Tickets are $65 VIP (includes prime seating and pre-show reception) and general $20, $30 and $40. Purchase four tickets at the same time at Media City Dance Centre, 237 E. Palm Ave., Burbank, and receive a free dance lesson. Buy tickets now and save $5 off each ticket. Purchase tickets online at www.fordtheatres.org or pacificballetdancetheatre.org.
JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.