Youth Briefs

Student given best animation award

Rafaella Angelica “Ella” Nepales, a junior at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in La Cañada, won the best animation award in the first Filmfest 43 held at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.

Ella’s short claymation entry, “Love Will Come Through,” was among 24 films chosen from more than 100 submissions screened at the film festival for young filmmakers. The best entries in four categories — animation, narrative, experimental/music video and documentary — were chosen by a panel of judges, including Dug Ward, academic administrator and an adjunct faculty member of the UCLA Animation Workshop; Robert W. Peterson, chair of the graduate film program at the Art Center of College of Design; and Mike Petros, associate professor of television at Glendale Community College.

An aspiring filmmaker, Nepales worked on her challenging, time-consuming clay animation film for seven straight hours on the eve of the festival’s submission deadline.

Volunteer Program winners announced

Congressman Dreier presented awards to the winner and participants of his 2008 Youth Volunteer Award program Wednesday at Arcadia Community Center.

Fifty-nine high school students from throughout the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire participated in this year’s program.

In addition to the winner and runners up, each of the participants will be recognized for their service to the community.

To participate, students submitted an application, wrote an essay on volunteerism, and provided a letter of recommendation. They were then interviewed.

This year’s winner of the Youth Volunteer of the Year award is Rosetta Ragusa of La Crescenta and a student at Crescenta Valley High School.

Local second runner-up is Frances McCloskey of Sierra Madre, a student at Flintridge Prep School.

Local winners in the general runner-up category are Alana Mailes of La Cañada, a student at La Cañada High School; Crystal Pack of La Crescenta, a student at Crescenta Valley High School; and Caitlin Sarian of La Cañada, a student at La Cañada High School.

Local honorable mention winners are Varun Bhadha of La Crescenta, a student at Crescenta Valley High School; Elizabeth Blanco of La Cañada, a student at Polytechnic High School in Pasadena; Grace Chung of La Cañada, a student at Crescenta Valley High School; Jennifer Comstock of La Crescenta, a student at Crescenta Valley High School; Krizia del Rosario of La Crescenta, a student at Crescenta Valley High School; Michele Kang of La Crescenta, a student at Crescenta Valley High School; Nathaniel Kim of Montrose, a student at Maranatha High School in Pasadena; Susan Lee of La Cañada, a student at Crescenta Valley High School; Anglie Lim of La Crescenta, a student at Crescenta Valley High School; Phillip Liu of La Cañada, a student at La Cañada High School; Varduhi Mkhitaryan of Glendale, a student at Clark Magnet High School; Tanu Mondkar of La Cañada, a student at La Cañada High School; Gina Tucker of La Cañada, a student at La Cañada High School; and Micahel Vu of Pasadena, a student at St. Francis High School.