2009 Barbara Benson Scholarship Winners

TACFA Announces 2009 Annual Scholarship Winners

 

Daniel Chang, Beckman High School is an amazing visual artist in a variety of different media. He will start at UC Riverside this fall and hopes to transfer to the Rhode Island School of Design to study studio art. He has won several awards in the International Aviation Art Contest and in the annual John Wayne Airport Student Art Contest. He has served as project manager for the Art for Humanity Club, as secretary for the UNICEF Club, and as a teaching assistant at Irvine Art Academy. He participates in many community volunteer activities and is also an accomplished musician.

James Friedman, Foothill High School, an outstanding drummer, plans on furthering his education in music writing, studio recording, and performance at Irvine Valley College this year. He twice won the Academic Award of Excellence for Outstanding Jazz Musician, drum soloist. Besides being drum major, James played in the high school’s marching, stage, and concert bands. At age 14 he was recruited to play with a professional band known for their mix of jazz, rock, Latin, and light fusion instrumental music. He has played at such venues as Disneyland, Universal Studios, and PBS.

Allan Hon, Beckman High School, is a gifted cellist who will study cello performance at Rice University in Texas this fall. He has been either first-place winner or a semifinalist in many competitions: the L.A. Music Center Spotlight Awards 2009, the Orange Coast College Concerto Aria Competition, the South Coast Symphony Young Artists Competition 2007, the Southwestern Youth Music Festival 2006, the International Chinese Young Musician Competition 2006, and the 2008 Music Teacher Association of California VOCE State Competition. He has played with the Beckman High School Chamber Orchestra for four years and the Orange County Youth Symphony. In addition, his volunteer activities include World Vision, Kiwanis Educating Youth Club, Key Club, and the Irvine Regional Hospital Medical Center.

Chloe Van Stralendorff, Tustin High School, is an accomplished painter, focusing on social and lifestyle issues. She will attend Fullerton College this fall to begin her studies in exhibition design with the ultimate goal of working as a museum or gallery curator. Her paintings were recently shown at Santa Ana’s GRRL Festival, celebrating International Women’s Day.