POAC awards two scholarships
(Courtesy photo) Two deserving Sandpoint High School students were the recipients of Pend Oreille Arts Council’s scholarship awards this year. From left is Tristen Plail, $1,000 visual arts recipient; POAC Executive Director, Hannah Combs, and Ellinor Allen, $1,000 performing arts recipient.
One of the most important aspects of Pend Oreille Arts Council’s mission is to instill a life-long appreciation for the arts in the youth of Bonner County. With this in mind, the POAC board asked donors at last year’s Art Party to raise the necessary funds to reinstate a long-dormant program to award scholarships to worthy students with a passion for visual and performing arts.
It turned out that raising the funds was much easier than choosing winners among the fourteen applicants. When it comes to talent and commitment to the arts, we are a very wealthy community.
The committee put a lot of thought and time into their decision and it’s our pleasure to announce that this year’s recipients of $1,000 scholarships each go to Ellinor Allen and Tristen Plail.
“Ellinor will be attending Pacific University to double major in music and pre-med and is looking forward to auditioning for Pacific’s Concert choir, which is their traveling and performance-based choir, POAC Executive Director Hannah Combs said. “We saw how dedicated Ellinor is to her craft and appreciated that she is an advocate for the arts in the community in her work with the Arts Commission and with Pend Oreille Arts Council.
“Tristen will be attending an intensive two-year program at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. The selection committee admired the originality of Tristen’s work. He has already designed his own line of clothing, and his creativity and innovation in pursuit of his goals made him shine as a candidate for this scholarship,” Combs said.
Pend Oreille Arts Council will be awarding scholarships again during the 2019-2020 school year. If your senior student is interested in more information contact the POAC office at 208-263-6139 or the career guidance counselors at the high schools.
Students at each of the Bonner County high schools are eligible to apply.