Join Us for Metamorphosis: An ASA Showcase! |
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Hello ASA Alumni!
Showcase and Graduation are just around the corner, and we have had quite a year! This edition of the Pigeon Post is full of celebrations and new ways ASA is evolving to meet the present moment while fulfilling our school mission.
First, some introductions. We have spent the last year building a new organizational structure that reflects the educational, social and emotional needs of students, faculty, and parents. After a year-long search, we have a new Principal - Elma Djânić Bass. Elma first joined ASA last year as a consultant to guide us in building our Discipline and Restorative Justice Framework and effective practices in becoming a more restorative environment for our students. Through her intensive work with our amazing students and faculty, she decided to join us permanently, and applied (and was selected) for the Principal position. She has already been an inspirational and transformative presence for us. Next year we have a full administrative team complete with our new Principal, three Vice Principal level positions now called Deans - Dean of Academics, Emma Popish; Dean of Arts, Monica Anthony; Dean of Students, Kristi Kleiser. People you may already know, but who are stepping into the ASA leadership structure. We also added a full-time social worker position (Veronica Cons) and will also be adding an Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Director. These outstanding leaders will carry ASA forward into the future, and I am honored to work with each of them.
I also want to extend my congratulations to our Outstanding Alumni Awardees this year: Mark Jacobson, Scott Fitsimones, and Rachel Proctor-Murphy. You will learn more about their impressive achievements since leaving ASA within this publication.
Finally, if you have been to Phoenix and around the campus, you will be happy to know that our amphitheater will be completed by August - FINALLY! It has been a long year of working around the construction zone, but we see the end and in sight, and we are looking forward to enjoying the new solar/shade, amphitheater, and the many assemblies and performances that will return to campus next year.
Alumni Showcase tickets are specially priced for you - so if you can, please join us this year for Metamorphosis: An ASA Showcase at the Phoenix Art Museum. Details inside.
All my best,
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Leah Fregulia
CEO/HEAD OF SCHOOL
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2023 Distinguished Alum Honorees |
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Mark Jacobson
Class of 2007
With a sense of humor and a respect for craft that shines through all of the stage, screen, voiceover, and improv work he does, Mark Jacobson is an actor to watch, both figuratively and literally. As his performance footprint increases, the qualities that made Mark the epitome of an ASA student become apparent to a growing audience. You may have seen him in various guest roles on NCIS: Los Angeles, FBI, This is Us, among many others, or heard his voice as PEGS1 on I Am Frankie without even knowing it, but 2022 was the biggest year in his career…so far. In November, Mark played Gabe Kaplan in the premiere episode of Hulu’s Welcome to Chippendales and then had a supporting lead role as Jet in The 12 Days of Christmas Eve starring Kelsey Grammar and Spencer Grammar. All of this was on the heels of a supporting lead role in the soon-to-be released Morgan Freeman-Josh Hutcherson feature film, 57 Seconds, playing Josh’s best friend.
It’s not just work on the large and small screen in which Mark excels. He is also an accomplished stage actor with roles in everything from world premiere theater to Shakespeare, making excellent use of his training with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Upright Citizens Brigade, The Groundlings alongside his Bachelor of Arts degree in Acting from the USC School of Theater. Mark is a cast member of Coeurage Ensemble,a “pay what you want performance ensemble” that is committed to bringing theater performance to Los Angeles and online audiences. During the pandemic, Mark spearheaded The NOMAD Project: Location-Inspired Stories for Coeurage, a series of 10-15 minute original audio plays that takes the listener on snapshot visits to different locations around L.A. We had an opportunity to catch up with Mark and he generously answered a few questions for us about his experiences as a working actor.
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Scott Fitsimones
Class of 2015
“i'm scott, a startup founder in san francisco. i started building iPhone apps in my spare time, as an escape from doing my music school's homework.”
Not precisely what one would want to hear as the school in question, but certainly demonstrating the Curiosity, Individuality, Critical Thinking, Creativity and Innovation pieces of ASA’s Core Values.
Homework aside, Scott earned a Flinn Foundation scholarship to attend college. Majoring in Computer Science at Arizona State University, he met Jonathon Barkl and Chelsea Boarder, and together they co-founded AirGarage, an online marketplace connecting parking space owners and drivers, in 2017. While still in college, the trio saw a need to supply more affordable parking for ASU students and employees alongside empty driveways belonging to Tempe residents and began making connections between the two. In an interview for VoyagePhoenix in March 2018, Scott defined success, “Success for our AirGarage marketplace has a few definitions. It’s how many people’s lives we touch, how many people we help save a few extra dollars so they can get a movie ticket instead of burning it on parking. For us, it means expanding to the entire southwest, soon Tucson and the UC schools.” Today, success means more than a million uses by drivers across 30 North American cities and millions of dollars in outside investment, earning Scott, Jonathon and Chelsea a spot on Forbes “30 Under 30” list this year.
A big picture, long-term thinker, Scott views AirGarage not simply as a business opportunity, but as a way to help make cities better by utilizing to the fullest effect the spaces built as mandated by parking minimums and reducing the urban sprawl of more parking.
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2022 Rising Star Alum Honorees |
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Rachel Procter-Murphy
Class of 2016
It is somehow fitting that this year’s Rising Star honoree is studying Astrophysics. Like many children, Rachel says that she was fascinated by space, and would have liked to be an astronaut, but it wasn’t until Jeff Steinert’s class that she became interested in Physics.
Currently a PhD student in Physics at the University of Maryland, Rachel had the opportunity to participate in a series of complementary analyses for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in the South Pole following the sighting of one of the closest and brightest gamma ray bursts of all time in October of last year. The analyses focused on neutrino emissions from the gamma ray burst and the resulting whitepaper was released in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on March 28th, with an accompanying press release from the IceCube Observatory. READ MORE
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Come and See Showcase on June 1, 2023 at 6:00 PM!
You’ve just come home after your first year of college and what is the first thing you do? If you’re like (L to R) Kai Newman, Ethan Zelov, Ian Nussdorfer and Vincent Claes from the Class of 2022, you come and visit ASA of course!
If you cannot come to campus to say hello, Showcase is a terrific venue to catch up with ASA. Feedback from the alumni that attended Kaleidoscope last year said that the festival-style format allowed them to meet up and connect with each other between stages. They found the relaxed atmosphere fun and intriguing, but the performances were no less polished and satisfying. This year for Metamorphosis we are using the same format but more of it: more stages, more academics, more performances! So get in touch with your ASA friends -- or simply come yourself and see who you can see -- and make plans for an evening of art, interaction, camaraderie, and maybe a little nostalgia.
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 to help encourage you. Graduates can purchase tickets for only $25 on the Showcase website page in the “Purchase Tickets” dropdown menu. We will notify you when your ticket -- in the form of a silicone wristband -- will be available for pick-up on campus, or you can get them at check-in the night of the event.
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Can't make it? Show your support by making a Showcase gift!
Scan the QR to make a one-time gift towards Showcase or CLICK HERE.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
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Showcase Sponsorship: Spread the Word!
You can see from the Showcase web page that Arizona School for the Arts experiences a great amount of local community support in the form of sponsors for Metamorphosis. All of these are a result of connections through our Board, families and staff.
As an alum of ASA, a meaningful way to show your support of the school is to honor an Arts Department that helped shape your education here with a Hearts for the Arts sponsorship. Each sponsorship includes two (2) all-inclusive tickets , event signage recognition, and access to the pre-event reception.
You can order your Hearts for the Arts sponsorship through the website or by contacting our Director of Development, Leslie Religioso.
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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.
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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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© 2023 Arizona School for the Arts |
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