NOCCA Breaks Records With Class of 2014
Students Completing Studies At Arts Conservatory Have Received Largest Sum of Scholarship Offers In School History
The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) Class of 2014 is a special one. The class of 116 students from across southeastern Louisiana has received over $17.4 million dollars in scholarship offers from the most prestigious colleges and arts conservatories in the country. This figure averages over $150,000 per student, not including state TOPS awards. This year, NOCCA has the highest per capita and total scholarship awards in NOCCA’s history.
Some student highlights include:
Victor Paz Arabi-70032, St. Bernard Parish, Vocal. Victor has been studying opera at NOCCA in the Vocal Music Division only for two years, but has been able to audition and be accepted to one of the top vocal music performance programs in the country, Mannes College The New School for Music, in New York. Victor also excels academically at Chalmette High and has been named part of the top 10% of his class. He hopes to continue after college in the professional opera career and travel the world.
Jeffery Miller New Orleans-70114, Orleans Parish, Jazz. Jeffery embodies the hard work, sacrifice and dedication of all NOCCA students. As a Benjamin
Franklin High School and NOCCA Jazz student, Jeffery has maintained a strong academic course load as well as his rigorous studies on his jazz trombone, here at NOCCA. Jeffery has been accepted to the most prestigious art conservatoryin the county, The Juilliard School. He looks forward to living in New York, performing, and studying under NOCCA alum Wynton Marsalis, who will become the director of the Juilliard Jazz program in July.
Ashlyn Haywood Avondale-70094, Jefferson Parish, Classical Instrumental. In her studies in the Classical Instrumental Division on the flute, Ashlyn understands the importance of daily focus. She plans to attend Bennington College, a small liberal arts college located in Vermont. Ashlyn learned about Bennington College’s unique environment, one that includes the visual and performing arts, at NOCCA’s annual College Fair. Ashlynn will be graduating from John Ehret High School and is looking forward to her real world studies at Bennington which include a year of work in her field as part of their curriculum.
Caroline Grace Lewis Mandeville-70471, St. Tammany Parish, moved from Ruston, Louisiana, Lincoln Parish, Musical Theatre. In Ruston, Louisiana, Grace sought out as many singing and performance opportunities as she could during middle and high school, but as she got older she had a special question for her mom. She heard about this program in New Orleans, called NOCCA, it was an arts school and their Musical Theatre program was one of the best. Her mom, Leigh, always wanting to encourage her daughter’s interests, agreed to visit NOCCA to see with her own eyes what the program was about. How her family would manage if Grace was accepted to NOCCA could be figured out later. Grace made it through the audition and was accepted. So with Grace’s father’s blessing and support, Leigh took a leap of faith and transported herself and her daughter to St. Tammany Parish, enrolling Grace in Mandeville High to allow for her daily attendance. Grace recently graduated from Mandeville High and NOCCA and would not have changed one minute of her senior year for anything in the world. Grace plans to attend Oklahoma City University in their prestigious and rigorous Musical Theatre program.
Victoria Famer Slidell-70458, St. Tammany Parish, Culinary Arts. Since middle school, Victoria has been dreaming of becoming a professional chef and running her own restaurant. She learned about NOCCA’s Culinary program in 6th grade when it was only a three-week summer program offered at a satellite site. Victoria has been able to grow her skills and training as the NOCCA Culinary Arts program has developed, now a one-of-a-kind professional standard instructional culinary laboratory that includes guest chefs, world cuisine and real world experience. Victoria chose to transfer high schools two different times to ensure she could continue with her Culinary studies at NOCCA. She will graduate from Louisiana Connections Academy and NOCCA and has chosen to attend Nicholls State University being accepted to John Folse Culinary Institute.
“Every year we have the joyous opportunity to celebrate students who have applied hard work to their talent to forge a path that is extraordinary,” stated NOCCA President |CEO Kyle Wedberg. “This is the most recognized class in the history of NOCCA based on the scholarships offered to them, but it is their growth as artists and people in which we take the greatest notice. We look forward to a future that will be shaped and led by these 116 newly minted NOCCA Alumni.”
NOCCA offers tuition-free intensive arts training in Creative Writing, Culinary Arts, Dance, Media Arts, Classical Instrumental Music, Jazz, Vocal, Drama, Musical Theatre, Theatre Design and Visual Arts to Louisiana upper-middle and high school students during full-day, ½ day and afterschool attendance options.