Theatre News

New Light Foundation Awards Second Annual Scholarship

Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Fla (July 14, 2003) The New Light Studio and Gallery announced this week that it will award its second scholarship through The New Light Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization established to support the arts and education.

The foundation, serving their Broward County area communities, will present a scholarship to Ms. Jashona Johnson of Pompano Beach, a 2003 graduate of Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Florida. She will use the award toward her educational expenses at the University of Central Florida in Orlando next Fall.

The New Light Foundation's ("New Light") mission is to give young people the chance to pursue their dreams regardless of their financial circumstances. Their candidates need not have the top grades or be the most talented. The New Light Foundation is more impressed with effort and attitude, as it is their belief that a High School student is not a finished product, but an individual in the process of growth and transformation.

The New Light Foundation's mission is to encourage achievement, not just for the current best and brightest students, but to also for those who are in the process of finding and discovering their potentials.

In summary, to determine a scholarship recipient, the Board of Directors of the New Light Foundation, Inc. carefully evaluates the student's grades, personal essay, artwork, parent and teacher statements, and home living circumstances. Students who display effort and potential, despite especially severe hardships will receive strong consideration.

The New Light Foundation's Scholarship criteria dictates that a student be a 2003 High School graduate scheduled to attend college in the fall of 2003. In addition, the student preferably is artistically inclined, with a minimum C+ average, from a foster home, a single parent home, or from a family whose annual income is in the lower percentile in the State of Florida.
Confirmation of graduation from high school and an acceptance letter from their College or Training School of choice is needed.

Funding for the New Light Foundation's Scholarship awards are provided from a percentage of Wendy White's and Roland Ruocco's fine art Painting sales at their New Light Studio.

"Jashona is not only an outstanding student academically, she actively gives back to her community in many ways and is motivated to excel in college and beyond with an eye towards service, in addition she is a talented artist," says Wendy White, president of the New Light Foundation.

"These qualities made her a fine candidate for our second annual award," added Roland Ruocco. "We were certainly impressed by all the applicants but Joshana had a special warmth that came through in her materials "

Former New York artists White and Roland Ruocco opened their gallery/studio in Lauderdale-By-The Sea in 2001. Ms. White, a graduate of Columbia University, was a prominent member of the underground East Village art movement and was a highly visible American impressionist artist on the international art scene in Amsterdam.

Roland Ruocco graduated from the Pratt Institute in New York. His interest in climatology, mapmaking and plant life has influenced development of his themes rooted in the subtropical natural world. These themes also serve as the inspiration for the "South Florida School of Painters," a movement Ruocco sees as a new vision of tropical landscape interpretation.

Ruocco and White consider their studio/gallery to be unique in that they create and offer a diverse body of highly original art at affordable prices for a broad spectrum of artistic sensibilities.

Original paintings, drawings, limited editions and commissioned projects are available at The New Light Gallery at 218 Commercial Blvd., Suite 106 in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea. Gallery hours are 1:00 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Call 954.786-1080 for more information, a studio appointment or a scholarship application.

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