Two members of MAD Academy’s class of 2016, Marina Morales-Aguilar and Nik Harger, have been selected by The California Academy Foundation to receive scholarships totaling $1,000 each.
Nik Harger serves as an AHA! peace builder and received an award from Partners in Education. He graduates with a 5.0 GPA and is ranked No. 1 in his class of 578 at Santa Barbara High School.
He excelled in digital drawing, digital imaging and photography at the Academy, and his peers and teachers describe him as creative, intelligent and compassionate.
Harger plans to attend Northeastern University in the fall, where he received a full-tuition scholarship.
“I first had Nik as my student when he was a freshman, and even at that young age he was working at a near professional level as a young creative,” Shapiro said. “Not only were his projects technically developed way, way, way beyond the criteria of each assignment…I was always dazzled by sophisticated, creative vision.”
A member of both MAD and AVID, Morales-Aguilar also received an award from Partners in Education, and she is an AHA! peace builder at Santa Barbara High School. Her peers describe her as kind, inclusive and helpful.
Morales-Aguilar excelled at MAD in both digital drawing and digital imaging.
She plans to attend Santa Barbara City College in the fall, and then transfer into California State University, Fullerton to major in nursing.
MAD teacher Michelle Shapiro summed up Morales-Aguilar in three words: thoughtful, creative and kind.
“A joy to have in my class, Marina devoured every assignment she was given with a voice and execution that is every teacher’s dream,” Shapiro said.
The Multimedia Arts and Design (MAD) Academy is distinctive educational community combining the best cultures of both public and private schools.
The Academy inspires students to find their passion while learning media arts skills.
The California Academy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) whose mission is to raise the necessary funds needed to operate the Academy.
For more information about MAD Academy, contact Kendra Kenyon at 805.966.7918.
— Kendra Kenyon is the development director at the California Academy Foundation.