Graduating Seniors Urged to Show Up and Say Yes to New Opportunities
Sturgis Charter Public School’s Eli Towne (from left), Mashpee Middle-High School’s Addison Losh, Falmouth High School’s Rima Petrosyan, Falmouth Academy’s Elizabeth Lynn Jazo, Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School’s Ana Clara Santos, and Montserrat College of Art’s Marin Withrow, a 2024 Falmouth High School grad, were all awarded scholarships as part of a ceremony recognizing local students who are pursuing degrees in the arts at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in May.
What’s the worst day you have ever had? Arts Foundation Executive Director Julie Wake shared one that her daughter experienced during a visit to the Sandwich Glass Museum. Using finger quotes around the words, “worst day ever,” Wake recalled when her then-8-year-old daughter was asked by a glassblower if she wanted to help him during a glassblowing demonstration.
Wake’s daughter folded her arms, froze, and politely declined; on the ride home, she was upset that she had said no to an opportunity to embrace creativity.
It was a lesson that Wake said has stayed with her daughter, who is graduating high school in June, to this day. She never wanted to experience that feeling of saying no— even if she wasn’t ready — again.
And it was a lesson Wake shared with students who were finishing their high school careers and about to embark on their college journeys at a scholarship ceremony at the Cape Cod Museum of Art at the end of this month. “The artists who are happiest and most content and feel successful in their work, go for things before they are ready,” Wake said. “While everyone else is looking down, artists are looking up and around, and asking questions, and being brave.”
Wake, who was the guest speaker at the ceremony, urged all of the students to keep creating, to embrace their passion for the arts, and to be brave. “You are responsible for keeping the arts alive and that means showing up and saying, ‘yes,’ and not folding your arms when the world needs you to step forward,” she said.
Arts Foundation Executive Director Julie Wake encourage graduating high school students to embrace creative opportunities even if they are not ready.
The Arts Foundation partnered with the Cape Cod & Islands Art Educators Association on scholarships for the following students: Falmouth Academy’s Elizabeth Lynn Jazo who will be attending Maine College of Art and Design; Mashpee Middle-High School’s Addison Losh who will be attending the University of Maine; and Sturgis Charter Public School’s Eli Towne who will be attending Bennington University in Vermont.
The Arts Foundation also partnered with the Arts Educators Association and Cape Cod Potters, Inc. to offer scholarships to Falmouth High School’s Rima Petrosyan who will be attending Tufts University and Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School’s Ana Clara Santos who will be attending Fitchburg State University.
The Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod gave scholarships to Savannah School of Art & Design’s Saffron Jalbert who graduated from Nauset Regional High School last year, Ana Clara Santos, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School’s Tahireh White, and Montserrat College of Art’s Marin Withrow who graduated from Falmouth High School in 2024.
The Printmakers of Cape Cod awarded a scholarship to Elizabeth Lynn Jazo.
Sturgis Charter Public School’s Eli Towne with her family and her artwork. Eli will be attending Bennington University in the fall.
This is now the second straight year, and the third since 2022 that the Arts Foundation has partnered with the Art Educators Association to support high school students pursuing college degrees in the arts.
Benton Jones, a member of the association and Director of Art at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, said these scholarships are one way the organizations “hope to ensure the arts are not sacrificed in the shadow of what some consider more practical pursuits. The ambition to create something capable of moving others and allowing them to see the world in a different perspective is honorable, worthwhile, and so necessary. I believe of all the occupations us humans pursue, creative expression is the most meaningful and most impactful.”
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