As of May 15, the class of 2010 had earned over $12 million in scholarships and aid to college (not including TOPS), a $100,000 per student average. Sixty-one percent of graduates will be studying out-of-state, and 39% will attend colleges in Louisiana. The per student average scholarship has risen from $23,000 in 2002 to $91,000 last year and $100,000 this year.
2010 SENIOR AWARDS
- The Helen A. Mervis Award for artistic and academic achievement and community service was awarded to Sean O’Brien.
- The Lisa Marie Catalanello Memorial Scholarship for visual arts achievement and generosity of spirit was awarded to Jonathan Moody.
- The Daniel Price Memorial Scholarship for Aspiring Young Artists was awarded to Julia Berbling.
- Seth Daniel P. Memorial Award for multi-disciplinary artistic accomplishment was awarded to Leslie Gamboni.
- The Gary Barnett and Charles Jefferson Scholarship for visual arts achievement by an Orleans Parish student was awarded to Joshua Stanford.
OUTSTANDING GRADUATES AWARDS
- Lee and Kathy Randall Award in Creative Writing — Natasha Cox
- Milly and George Denegre Award in Dance — Jonesha Spears
- Helen Hill Memorial Award in Media Arts — Christoph Andersson
- Make It Funky Award in Jazz — Jeremy Marx
- Glennadora & James H. Perry Award in Vocal Music — Jordyn Keller
- Moses Hogan Award in Classical Music presented by Willa Slater — Jessada Paeratakul
- Freda M. Lupin Award in Musical Theatre — Devin Holloway
- Kuumba-Keener Award in Theatre — Matt Bolden
- Outstanding Graduate Award in Theatre Design — Joshua Courtney, Zoe Gorringe, and McNally Sislo
- The NOCCA Institute Collection Award (Visual Arts Purchase) — Hye Jeon and Kaitlyn Landry
Vocal students competed against 400 others at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Southern Region Auditions. NOCCA students Joel Dyson, Amanda McCarthy, and Emma Caffrey placed first, second, and third, respectively, in the women’s high school division. Gregory Rittiner placed second in the men’s high school division. Ashley Milanese, who competed in the college freshman women’s division, placed first. She also received the Platzer Award from the Junior Philharmonic Society of New Orleans. She will attend the Juilliard School in the fall; other NOCCA vocal graduates will attend Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY, and the Boston Conservatory. The newly launched NOCCA Chorus earned superior ratings at both the district and state level Louisiana Music Educators Association Choral Festival.
Media Arts students Christoph Andersson won DOWNBEAT’s Performing Arts High School Engineered Live Recording Award while Joshua Huval received Oustanding Performance for Engineered Live Recording and Engineered Studio Recording. Media Arts students also won nine awards at the St. Charles Parish Film Festival in animation, commercial, documentary, and music video formats.
Renovation plans are underway to transform a current classroom space into a professional Culinary Arts kitchen. Construction will begin in the coming months, with the goal of bringing the Culinary Arts program home to NOCCA’s campus for the June 2011 Summer Session. The Emeril Lagasse Foundation has provided leadership support for the capital project, joined by Macy’s and The Selley Foundation.
Awards this year were won by students in the following prestigious national and regional competitions:
- Natasha Cox, Creative Writing, was a Semifinalist in The United States Presidential Scholars Program;
- 1 student was recognized by the National Arts Recognition and Talent Search;
- 4 seniors were recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Competition as finalists;
- 1 senior was recognized by the National Achievement Scholarship Program;
- 6 students in Creative Writing and Visual Arts received national honors and Gold Key recognition in the Scholastic Arts and Writing Competition.