Join Us for Kaleidoscope: An ASA Showcase! |
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Hello ASA Alums! Showcase is just around the corner, and I wanted to share the new vision of our time-honored end-of-year tradition. After almost 25 Showcases in the grand Orpheum Theatre downtown, we are moving to a one-night celebration in the Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArts) and neighboring Central Church on Thursday, June 2. The event will be filled with performances on various stages throughout the museum and will include some installations that showcase the academic and club experience at ASA. All in all, an evening filled with creative collisions interwoven throughout the evening in this spectacular space.
This year’s theme, Kaleidoscope, evokes images of colorful complexity in continual motion resolving in moments of symmetry and beauty. As you may have experienced, even regular days at ASA are more often than not a kaleidoscope of images and experiences that make this particular theme an embodiment of our school in its many forms and moments. This immersive Showcase is a journey with ASA and was conceived to allow attendees to form their own impressions and interpretations. For me, I am pondering that just as a kaleidoscope configures endless images, there is no limit on the potential of the creative and educated mind to be change makers, truth tellers, and boundless innovators moving constantly through our school, our community, and outward into the world. If you haven’t already, and you happen to be in town, I hope you will join us!
Warmly,
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Leah Fregulia
CEO/HEAD OF SCHOOL
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2022 Distinguished Alum Honorees |
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Beryl Brachman
Class of 2010
What do you do when you are academically excellent and talented in theater as well as percussion? When you are Beryl Brachman, you go to Smith College to earn a B.A. in Theater/East Asian Languages and Literature as a member of the Deans List and then go on to receive your MFA in Costume Design from California Institute for the Arts.
Beryl has parlayed her arts + smarts education into a successful career as a costume designer and illustrator for film, theater and dance. The hallmark of Beryl’s work is the innovative use of graphic shapes to “…to examine the relationship between culture, technology, and the body.” Her work can be seen in Black Boy Joy, Samir, Blackout and the upcoming series, Scroll Wheel of Time.
ASA Percussion teacher Liz Guzman says of her, “Beryl Brachman was a student that lived the ASA Core Values while she attended ASA and continues to live those values everyday. She has always been an effective collaborator, from playing Band and Percussion ensemble, to making cosplay costumes for her friends in high school, and to today where she is forging her path working on several costume teams for film and TV.”
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Megan Quinn, PhD RNC-NIC
Class of 2005
At Arizona School for the Arts it is always a pleasure to see our graduates become educators and perhaps pass on some of the experiences they have received at ASA. A recent PhD, Nursing Science graduate from the University of Arizona, Megan Quinn has been an Assistant Professor at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland for almost two years.
Since 2009, Megan has been a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit registered nurse after receiving her Bachelors of Science from Arizona State University. “The nursing profession was a natural fit for me after being instilled with ASA’s mission. The need for understanding science and evidence while also being adept at communication, collaboration, and compassionate healing is the core of nursing philosophy,” says Megan.
She believes that she has learned lessons in resilience from the families she has cared for over the years, “Resilience requires self-awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses, understanding what you can do well for yourself and others, and where you might need to ask for help.”
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2022 Rising Star Alum Honorees |
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Lennon Torres
Class of 2017
Beautiful extension and gorgeous lyrical movement are the hallmarks of Lennon Torres’ dance style, but now she is extending herself for others.
A year ago, Lennon announced on TikTok that she is transitioning from Zachary to Lennon (she/her), to much admiration and support. Since that time, her non-profit, Continuum Community, of which she is Founder and CEO, has been an important cause for her while she pursues her M.A. in Public Relations and Advertising at the University of Southern California where she received her B.F.A. in Dance 2021.
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Alicia (Simmons) Winchel
Class of 2014
When Alicia Winchel graduated from ASA in 2014 with a full scholarship to Fordham University, she moved across the county and pursued dual Bachelor’s degrees, one in Psychology and one in International Humanitarian Affairs, but her studies also took her across the globe.
Alicia spent five months of her Junior year in South Africa studying the apartheid and the country’s continued racial segregation and followed that up in her Senior year of college as an Refugee Resettlement Intern with the International Rescue Committee where she assisted refugees from all over the world with their government filings and paths to citizenship.
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Career Fair
Sometimes it’s hard to know what you want to be when you grow up, but our college counselor, Liz Wakeford (or Kuhl, as some of you may remember), organized a job fair on campus on April 19th. With the collective talents of twelve ASA Parents with 10-20+ years experience in a variety of fields, nine ASA Alum who have been in their careers 1-5+ years, eight different college departments, the military, FBI, Chicanos Por La Causa, and more, Ms. Wakeford was able to give our high school students something to think and dream about for their futures.
Your fellow alumni who participated were: Christina Lufkin (‘15), Project manager and Architectural/Interior Designer at Kaiserworks; Tristan Peterson-Steinert (‘15), Program Manager at Everybody Matters; Desiree Figueroa (‘15), Sr. Program Coordinator, Venture Development at The J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at ASU;
Jess Lyon (‘15), Scenic Charge Artist at Arizona Broadway Theatre; Ali Zuercher (‘14), Performance Improvement Coordinator at Maricopa County Department of Public Health; Alex Videla (‘17), Assistant Director of Research at Land Advisors Organization;
Taylor Popish (‘09), Manager of Partnership Marketing for The Arizona Diamondbacks; and Savannah Stewart (‘18), Zookeeper at Out of Africa Wildlife Park; and Tanner Popish (‘07), Senior Accountant at The Arizona Diamondbacks.
Our students would love to meet you and see you there next year. If you are interested in participating in future events, please let us know at alumni@goasa.org.
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Come and See Kaleidoscope an ASA Showcase on June 2!
Kaleidoscope: An ASA Showcase is a multi-stage, immersive event that will allow the attendees to move from area to area to experience not only arts performances from solo performers and large and small groups but academic and club presentations and interactive encounters as well. Printed event guides will be available to help steer you through this arts + smarts program.
We would like as many of our alumni to attend this one-night occasion as possible, so we have maintained our special ASA Alum ticket pricing this year to help encourage you. Graduates can purchase tickets for only $25 on the Showcase website page in the “Purchase Tickets & Sponsorship” dropdown menu. The purchase confirmation email will provide details of when your ticket -- in the form of a silicone wristband -- will be available for pick-up on campus. Otherwise, your wristband will be at Will Call on June 2nd at Showcase.
Please do not miss the opportunity to be part of this new era of Showcase.
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Can't make it but still want to show your support?
Scan the QR to make a one-time gift towards Showcase or CLICK HERE.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
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STAY INFORMED: If you have classmates with whom you are in touch but we may not be, please forward this newsletter to them and let them know we would like to hear from them! Sign-up to join our alumni mailing list via the Alumni Connection Links at goasa.org/alumni.
JOIN THE ASA PARENT ALUM FACEBOOK GROUP: This group is for parents or caregivers of Arizona School for the Arts alumni only and is not open to student alumni (unless they are now parents of alumni), current ASA students, or other relatives of ASA alumni. Join now!
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Arizona School for the Arts inspires creative thinkers and leaders through providing an innovative concentration in college preparation informed by the performing arts. |
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© 2021 Arizona School for the Arts |
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