St. Francis Catholic High School
Arts Recognition Ceremony
Recognizing St. Francis students who are committed to the Arts by majoring in an Art form at a four year University.
May 19th 2016 at 8:00am St. Francis Theatre Stage
St. Francis Catholic High School Visual and Performing Arts Department Arts Administration/Staff Assistant Principal of the Arts......................................................Mary Castellano Arts Executive Director/Producer........................................ Elizabeth Danielson Technical Director....................................................................... Catherine Kunkel
Visual Arts Faculty Visual Arts Chair, Film................................................................... Rosalva Willow Photography/Film/Art History........................................................... Adan Romo Sculpture, Painting, Advanced Art...................................................Mary Stember Drawing, Art 1............................................................ Milan (Marko) Vlaisavjevic
Performing Arts Faculty Performing Arts Chair, Theatre...................................................... Cheryl Watson Vocal/Choir............................................................................................. Tina Harris Dance.............................................................................................Rebecca Henning Orchestra/Jazz..................................................................................Thomas Hicken Piano Accompanist.............................................................................. Rachel Kang
Faculty in the Past Four Years Piano Accompanist/Recording....................................................David Blanchard Art........................................................................................................Kathy Carlisle Dance...............................................................................................Christy Costales Technical Director................................................................................Steve Decker Orchestra and Jazz............................................................................. Horatio Edens 3
St. Francis Catholic High School
Arts Recognition Scholars Congratulations to the following students who have committed to the Arts by majoring in an Art form at a four year University. Maggie Anderson Kiki Burns Bella Coppola Jordan Davis Gabrielle Dyer Madison Foote Isabela Garcia Arcadia German Delaney Gibbons Meghan Greene Lauren Gresens Kathryn Gubler Francesca Heidig Charlotte Kershaw Lauren Metzinger Emily Miller Emily Mulholland Joan Pasion Elizabeth Perlas Meghan Puich Sienna Stevens Natalie Sulzinger Emma Vance 4
Maggie Anderson Walsh University Major: Graphic Design
Maggie Anderson has been drawing ever since she can remember. Coming to St. Francis has helped her explore her natural passion for visual storytelling. While here, she’s taken many many art classes, designed the alumni banner, and used a whole lot of paper. Someday she hopes to work in the animation field, but for now she is going to continue her education at Walsh University. She will be majoring in Graphic Design in addition to participating in the Blouin Global Scholars program, which gives students the opportunity to travel to both Uganda and Rome while studying major global issues. She believes being an artist is about more than knowing how to use a pencil, and through participation in this program she hopes to gain the life experience and perspective necessary to create truly impactful work. In addition to her studies in the classroom she is also excited to take the field and play women's lacrosse for the Walsh Cavaliers! Go Cavs!! 5
Kiki Burns Elon University
Major: Musical Theatre Kiki is thrilled to announce that she will be majoring in musical theater at Elon University as part of the 2020 class! She’s a senior at St. Francis High School and in her fourth and final year with the Sacramento Theatre Company's Young Professionals Conservatory. Throughout her four years at SFHS, she has participated in A Cappella, Show Choir, and SF Players. Recent appearances include "Xanadu!" (Kira), "The Taming of the Shrew" (Lucentio), and "Little Women" (Jo March). She would like to thank her family, friends, and mentors for their endless love and support! Never forget, “The object of art is to give life shape” - Shakespeare.
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Bella Coppola Texas State University Major: Musical Theatre
Bella Coppola has been heavily involved in St. Francis arts since her freshmen year. As a freshman, she played the Harp/Snow White/Spector in “Into The Woods” and took the Theatre Arts class. In her sophomore year, she participated in the Apprentice Dance Company and took her favorite St. Francis arts class; Jazz Ensemble. During her junior year she took Honors Music Essentials and, in her senior year, she focused on running the A Cappella Club after reigning as Co-President for two years and participating in the club all four years of her high school. She thanks her parents for paying for her education at St. Francis to further her Arts education. 7
Jordan Davis Spelman College
Major: Theatre Arts • Minor: Business
Gabrielle Dyer University of Arizona
Major: Film & Computer Science
Jordan Davis is an outgoing senior who has gladly dedicated the past four years to St. Francis High School. Jordan has participated in many shows since her time at St. Francis such as “Governing Alice”, “Reviving Ophelia”, “Macbeth”, “Left”, “Destinations”, and “The Poe Project”. Jordan is inspired by her hardworking mother and is excited to attend her alma mater, Spelman College, in the fall. Jordan has learned so much from her time at St. Francis and would like to thank everyone who was part of her journey at this school. Jordan's motto on life and the one lesson she will always take with her in life is, "Leap and the net will find you".
Gabrielle has had a keen interest for art all of her life. From completing numerous sketchbooks in middle school to taking 7 art classes at St. Francis, Gabrielle never stops creating. Gabrielle recently founded a local film production company called Iris Film Studios where she serves as the director of photography for their upcoming film that will be released by the end of the summer. Gabrielle plans on studying film along with computer science at the University of Arizona to hopefully become a software designer or work in VFX. When Gabrielle is not coding or creating film, she spends her time painting. Painting is the true medium that lets her be herself and most of her artwork has impressionist influences such as Van Gough, Gaugin, Renoir, or Monet. Gabrielle’s whole world is her canvas and her mediums are the tools that allow her to create and never stop.
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Madison Foote Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television Major: Screenwriting
Participating in Mr. Romo’s Digital Film & Animation class alongside Mrs. Borasi’s Writing From Literature class this year, Madison found her passion in the field of screenwriting, where she could combine her love for creative writing with film/television entertainment. Madison has worked on personal projects throughout the year in both areas and is enthusiastic to improve her skills in Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film & Television next year.
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Isabela Garcia San JosÉ State University Major: Art/Photography
Isabela Garcia is very excited to live out her passion for photography at San Jose State University and become part of the class of 2020. She has had her hands on a camera since she was a young girl but really fell in love with the art in her Junior year of high school. Her freshman year, she took Drawing 1 which really sparked her creative side. Her sophomore year, she took Digital Photography 1 and 2 and finished her Junior year taking AP Studio Art. She was given the opportunity to present her photography in the Jesuit/St. Francis High School Student Art Show along with The Crocker Art Museum. She also had the privilege of working with incredible teachers and students throughout her career at St. Francis and would like to thank them as well as all the people who supported her throughout her journey. 11
Arcadia German University of Minnesota-Guthrie Major: Acting
Arcadia is beyond excited to say that she will be spending the next four years in Minnesota at the University of Minnesota/Guthrie BFA Actor Training Program. Throughout her four years at St. Francis, Arcadia participated in many arts classes including Theatre Arts, Concert Choir, Photography, and Figure Sculpting. In her junior year, St. Francis helped her to fulfill the goal of playing one of her all time dream roles, Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth". Outside of St. Francis theatre, Arcadia has been a part of Sacramento Theatre Company’s Young Professionals Conservatory (STC-YPC) for the past six years. Some of her favorite roles with STC-YPC include: Argan "The Imaginary Invalid", Tranio "The Taming of the Shrew", Mary Bennet "Pride and Prejudice", Caliban "The Tempest", the tap dancing bear in the 2015 production of Cinderella and many more. She would like to thank her Mom and Dad for all of their support, for letting her go to St. Francis, and for putting up with her through this crazy thing called “college auditions.” Thank you to all her teachers and mentors at STC including Romyl Mabanta, Casey McClellan, Michele Hillen-Noufer, and Michael Laun. Thank you to two out of this world voice teachers, Maureen Mette and Sam Schieber. Also, a shoutout to all the people along the way who gave her a smile, a word of encouragement, food, advice, or any nice thing because it all matters. Thank you also to Ms. Danielson and Ms. Watson for organizing this event! “Every exit is an entrance somewhere else!” -Cinderella 12
Delaney Gibbons University of San Francisco Major: Art History/Arts Management
Throughout her four years at St. Francis, Delaney has discovered her passion for art. By taking painting classes her sophomore and junior year and AP Studio Art her senior year, she has found that she wants to further her knowledge in the art world and better understand the history behind art itself. Alongside painting and drawing, Delaney has been playing piano for six years and will continue to play music in college. She will be spending her next four years at the University of San Francisco studying Art History and hopes to get an internship at the De Young museum. Delaney is thrilled to be immersed into a creativity based city.
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Lauren Gresens University of California, Irvine Major: Dance
Meghan Greene Madison University Major: Musical Theatre Minor: Communications
Meghan is thrilled to be attending James Madison University. She has been seen at the Sacramento Theatre Company in "Pirates of Penzance" (Mabel/ Daughter), "A Funny Thing‌"(Philia), "BARK! The Musical" (Boo), "The Boyfriend" (Polly), "A Christmas Carol" (Fan), "A Little Princess" (Lavinia), "Godspell", and two A Tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber cabarets. She also holds titles for vocal competitions such as Classical Singer, NorCal Sings, NATS, and Sacramento Master Singers. At St. Francis, Meghan has grown as an artist through Theatre Arts classes, Visual Art classes, Honors Musical Essentials study, and A capella Club. Meghan is forever grateful for the relationships, skills, and memories that St. Francis High School has given her through its incredible Arts Program. She thanks her parents and coaches for their endless support as she continues onto a higher education in Musical Theatre studies! 14
Lauren found dance when she was 5 years old and has never let it go since. When she was younger, she tried out and juggled many different activities while dancing, including karate, soccer, singing, and piano. Grateful for the different experiences she received from these hobbies but recognizing a stronger love for dance, she slowly let go of the other activities to focus her energy solely on dance. During her formative years, she danced at KM Dance Arts under the direction of Rita Matthews. As she became exposed to more styles and techniques of dance, through workshops and the people she met in St. Francis Dance Company her freshman year, especially Ms. Christy Costales, she found herself drawn particularly to contemporary dance. Lauren eventually became focused on finding a studio with a strong contemporary program once she realized this was what she wanted to do with her life. At the beginning of her junior year of high school, she began training at Leighton Dance Project under the direction of Kelli Leighton. Lauren is so grateful to have found in Kelli a mentor and her biggest supporter of her aspirations. She thanks herself every day for finding the strength to leave the familiar and making the move to LDP where she found a second family and a home forever. After graduating, Lauren is excited to attend UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts to major in dance and study kinesiology. Eventually she would like to dance professionally with a contemporary company in the Los Angeles area. Lauren wants to sincerely thank the St. Francis Dance Company, for whom she was lucky enough to lead as Dance Captain this year, LDP, her friends, and family for all the support they have given her these past years. She would not be where she is today without them and owes all of her accomplishments to their valued love and encouragement. 15
Francesca Heidig Undecided Kathryn Gubler St. Mary's College Major: Technical Theatre
Katie Gubler has been involved in the Arts at St. Francis for three of her four years. Her main participation was in the theater and its productions. She has been on the Technical Crew of shows such as “Once Upon a Mattress” and “Macbeth”. Her favorite shows have been “Mary Poppins, the Broadway Musical” and “Left”, both in which she stage managed. Katie has also taken acting classes, Acting One and Theater Arts. Outside of St. Francis, she has volunteered with the Sacramento Ballet's “The Nutcracker”. She is excited to continue her technical career through college and would like to thank St. Francis and its Arts staff for helping her along the way.
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Major: Fashion Design Minor Business
Francesca has always been drawn to the arts in all shapes and forms. Whether it is film, photography, painting, acting, dance, writing, or fashion, she is always one to express her creativity. Francesca has been painting since kindergarten and had her big break when she had her first art show at the age of eight in a boutique called “Le Petit Paris” in Midtown Sacramento. Francesca developed a deep passion for photography in the seventh grade and really challenged herself in her work in AP Studio Art her junior year along with AP Art History at St. Francis. Francesca has been on the Nordstrom’s BP fashion board for three years learning and growing in the world of fashion. Along with being Vice President of St Francis’ Fashion Club, Francesca is currently working at a boutique in midtown where she is a sales associate and the director of photoshoots. Francesca plans on refining her talent and capitalizing on her business acumen by putting her mark on fashion in various parts of the world. Francesca doesn’t plan on limiting herself to one city because she believes all the cities have something to offer her. 17
Lauren Metzinger Belmont University Charlotte Kershaw Boston University Major: Fine Arts
Charlotte finds herself constantly creating. In her hand she always has a pen, pencil, highlighter, marker, paintbrush, crayon, or any other drawing/writing utensil that will allow her to put her ideas down on paper. Her drawings are doodled on just about anything and everything, including her school homework and in her notebooks (more often than not, creating vibrant highlighter cityscapes suffices for the “take notes” instructed by teachers). ((Apologies, teachers)). All throughout her four years at St. Francis, Charlotte has taken art classes. Charlotte greatly appreciates all the creative instruction and guidance she has received from her art teachers at SF. In the summer of 2014, Charlotte attended a pre-college summer program at California College of the Arts in Oakland, California. For the month she was there, she took illustration and drawing classes. It was unbelievable how fast Charlotte’s skill set improved, and she learned so much about technique, creativity, and herself. Going forward, Charlotte intends on studying visual art at Boston University’s College of Fine Art. She is keen to build upon her artistic foundation, and is ready to really find her voice as an artist. She wishes to expand upon her talents, broaden her artistic education, but ultimately, her goal is to just keep creating meaningful work. 18
Major: Musical Theatre Minor Voice Performance
Lauren has been active in SFHS Arts these past four years - SF Players (Lenaea Musical Theatre medalist, One Acts Gold Medalist and Synergy Group Awards, Teaching Assistant), Jazz Ensemble, Show Choir, Apprentice Dance Company, and A Cappella Club Co-President. Lauren was privileged to appear in two SFHS musicals: As Princess Winnifred in "Once Upon A Mattress" and as Mary Poppins in "Mary Poppins". Experience outside SFHS include El Dorado Musical Theatre (EDMT): Dolly Levi in "Hello Dolly", Gabriella in "High School Musical", Lina Lamont in "Singing In The Rain", and their High Voltage performance troupe. Lauren was part of Sacramento Theatre Company's (STC) Young Professional's Conservatory, and appeared in STC’s mainstage productions as Tina Denmark in "Ruthless! The Musical", and as Sara Crewe in the world premiere musical of "A Little Princess". Lauren has performed at California Musical Theatre Broadway Series in "Whistle Down The Wind", and Music Circus productions of "Evita and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". This summer, Lauren will be part of a concert titled "CASH", highlighting the life of Johnny Cash, and has been invited back to sing the National Anthem for the Sacramento Kings and Rivercats. Lauren has been offered an academic and vocal scholarship to Belmont University in Nashville, TN. She has been selected to be part of their BFA Musical Theatre Class of 2020, the most competitive major in their school of music. Belmont MT majors are trained to be quadruple threats - voice, dance, acting and musical instruments. Lauren would like to thank SFHS and the Arts staff for 4 years of training, guidance, and endless opportunities. 19
Emily Miller Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University Major: Acting
Emily Mulholland Pratt Institute of Art & Design Major: Film
Emily Miller is beyond grateful to be attending the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Amidst a company of 25 students, she will be studying to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. Three years of her college career will be spent in New Jersey, and one will be spent at the Rutgers Conservatory at the Shakespeare's Globe in London, during her junior year. All of this absolutely blows her mind. Emily has been participating in theatre since the age of four, but didn't quite uncover her place in the craft until her junior year of high school, when she was in the production “The Encyclopedia of Early Earth� at Jesuit Drama. This production would not have been able to act as a realization point without all of the other shows she has done. These include productions at St. Francis High School "The Imaginary Invalid", "Once Upon a Mattress", Sacramento Theatre Company "Little Women", "A Christmas Carol", "Godspell", and California Music Circus "Oliver!", "The Music Man". Every moment on stage has built who she is, and she cannot give her mentors enough gratitude. To her parents, sister, grandparents, Miranda Haines, her best friend, Jessie Leatherby, her best example, Kiki Burns, her best noodle, The Mocks Over Jocks Crew, Tricia Brandes and Mr. Edward Trafton: thank you.
Emily will be attending Pratt Institute of Brooklyn this fall. She will be majoring in Film and either minoring in writing or psychology. During her four years at St. Francis, Emily involved herself in the Digital Arts classes, including Photography and Film. As a senior, she is in the AP Studio Art class, and she is the TA for the Film class. She participated in her class by making numerous videos of the girls of 2016 to enjoy, including the homecoming videos. This past year, she took the Historian position on student council where she continued to make all the videos for the class. She also collected pictures and videos of her classmates for Senior Ball and created the end of the year senior video. Outside of school, Emily worked at NBC Sports and CW31 as an editor for two years, beginning her freshman year. After her first year there, she began writing her own screenplay for a television series. Her show quickly grew into an eight season-one hundred episode series. From there she went on to develop six more television series ideas and five movie ideas. Emily has worked numerous hours on her film and writing and cannot wait to pursue film in the future.
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Joan Pasion San JosÉ State University Major: Dance
Joan Pasion has a passion for dance. She began dancing at the age of 5 and hasn't stopped ever since. As a young child, she started with ballet, tap, and jazz. During her middle school years, she was very active in sports and dance. She was a part of St. Charles Borromeo's basketball, track and field, flag football, and volleyball teams while training in various dance styles such as modern, musical theater, ballet, lyrical, contemporary, and hip hop. But by the time she entered high school, Joan decided to let go of sports and focus more on her love for dance. Throughout the many years of dancing, she danced under the direction of Pamela Hayes, Sacramento Ballet, and Encore Dance Studio. She still continues dance at Encore Dance Studio, where she focuses in ballet and lyrical. During her time at St. Francis, she's been only dedicated to dance and nothing else. She participated in the Winterfest and Senior Showcase performances, became a part of the St. Francis Dance Company, Hula team, and ERA Hip Hop Club. Although never taken a professional class in Hip Hop, Joan found a huge interest in it once she auditioned for ERA her freshman year. She's been in ERA ever since her first year and was given the opportunity to lead the ERA crew as President her Senior year. She's choreographed multiple routines for both ERA and the SFHS dance company and was given the privilege to take leadership in teaching many girls in choreography. Later on, Joan hopes to become a dance teacher or instructor and pass down her knowledge of dance to future students. Joan is very excited to be part of the Bachelor of Arts Dance Class of 2020 at San Jose State University. She would like to thank the St. Francis Arts program for teaching her to become an even stronger dancer and most especially, God, her family, and friends for all the love, support, and encouragement throughout her many years of dancing. 23
Elizabeth Perlas Hofstra University
Major: Music Education Minor: Speech Language Pathology Lizzie plans to major in Music Education and minor in Speech Language Pathology and Spanish at Hofstra University on Long Island in New York, where she is a recipient of the President’s Scholarship and an annual Grantin-Aid for Piano. Participating in Jesuit Drama and SFHS Arts programs, especially choir, have inspired her to continue studying music, especially in the areas of composition and education. Lizzie plans to become fluent in Spanish and American Sign Language, and ultimately hopes to become a speech pathologist, artistic director, and music teacher in the United States or Spanish-speaking countries.
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Meghan Puich University of California, Santa Cruz Major: Cinimatic Studies & Enviornmental Science
Influenced by art and music early on, Meghan was inspired to explore her own ability to perceive and create. Photography became an outlet that allowed her to share specific moments in time by encompassing both significant themes and ideas with real life experiences. Her passion for both music and photography drove her to pursue filmmaking, a new medium that she found enabled her to expand her creative strategy. Photography and film have become essential influences in her life and she is now attending UC Santa Cruz to double major in environmental science and cinematic studies. 25
Sienna Stevens Southern Oregon University Major: Theatre Arts for Directing Minor: Shakespeare Studies
Sienna is an aspiring theatre and artistic director, and appreciates everything she has learned these last four years from St. Francis. She has played the clarinet/bass clarinet for over 8 years, and was a part of St. Francis' chamber orchestra for four years. Creative writing is a passion of hers that she has pursued outside of school, and has since begun writing an original script. During her senior year, she entered a visual art competition for the Sacramento Academic Decathlon Art Competition and received an honorable mention award. She's excited to start this new chapter of life, pursuing her lifetime dream in the arts. 26
Emma Vance Elon University
Major: Musical Theatre Minor: Criminal Justice
Natalie Sulzinger Elon University
Major: Music Production & Recording Arts Minor: Cinema & Television Arts Natalie Sulzinger loves to song write and will be attending Elon University in the fall, majoring in Music Production and Recording Arts. While she was at St. Francis, she participated in many arts activities including St. Francis musicals and plays, SF Players, Vocal Solos and is the current president of Show Choir. Outside of St. Francis, Natalie was involved with other theaters, such as Sutter Street and Jesuit Drama. She actually found her passion for songwriting through picking up the guitar in her freshman choir class. Ever since then songwriting has been an important part of her life and something she never wants to be without. 27
Ever since Emma was six, she has dreamed of being a triple-threat on Broadway and hasn’t looked back since! She has performed on numerous Sacramento stages including productions with Sacramento Theatre Company and their Young Professionals Conservatory, "A Little Princess", "Pippin", "A Christmas Carol", "Godspell", Samantics "The Glamorous Life", "CelebriTea Time with Trina", "Christmas Tea Time with Trina", Hawkins School of Performing Arts (where she has also worked as a tap teacher), and even directing and producing her own Cabarets. Emma has also been very active in the arts at SFHS. She has been a member of the Show Choir all four years and the choreographer for the Show Choir club for the last three. Emma has also had a blast working on SFHS productions as Cinderella’s Mother in "Into the Woods", Lady Larkin in "Once Upon a Mattress", and Allie in "Reviving Ophelia". She loved working with her classmates not only on the performance but also on the set. (Shout out to Britt for teaching her how to weld!) While performing is Emma’s passion, she has enjoyed the academic rigor of SFHS, with History being her favorite subject. Emma is a member of the National Honor Society and the California Scholarship Federation. She has also been very involved in the Italian Club and class choreographing and performing at SFHS’s International Nights over the last few years. Two highlights for Emma were being a Kairos leader this past April and getting to go on the Pope trip last September! Emma is excited to have been accepted into one of the country’s top 10 Musical Theatre Programs, Elon University. Emma will be majoring in Musical Theatre and minoring in Criminal Justice. She is thrilled to be a Phoenix! 28