Awards: I have been very fortunate and been recognized for all of the hard work I put in. Here are a few of the very honorable awards I have recieved.

Visionary of the Quarter:
Each Month and Quarter the school picks students from each grade to be the 'Visionary' of whichever it is. The Visionary awards are extremely important to our school, because we try to produce as many visionaries as we can. People who receive such awards have good grades, are good people, and actively participate in the school. I received the Visionary of the 2005-2006 (Winter) Quarter my sophomore year. Below is a picture of the certificate I received at the end of the year at the awards ceremony. {Award}

Visionary of the Year:
At the end of the year all of the people that were Visionary of Month or Visionary of the Quarter are eligible to be chosen for Visionary of the Year. Visionary of the Year is a very big honor to receive, similar to the Visionary of the Quarter Award, but much, much bigger. My sophomore year I was chosen as the Visionary of the Year, a first. (First off because I was part of the first sophomore class, but also because it was a very honorable award that usually goes to a senior.) I had no idea that I had even gotten the Visionary of the Quarter award (Yay for not reading the bulletin) so the Visionary of the Year was a big surprise. My friend and I had worn pink 80’s prom dresses to school that day, which is why there are no pictures of me included receiving my award. But, below is a picture of the certificate I received at the awards ceremony. I also have a pretty little plaque that hangs on my wall, but you don’t need to see a picture of that… {Award}

Student of the Month:
The Student of the Month is given by the Napa Valley Unified School District (NVUSD) to students who have had outstanding grades (3.0+) for five conscutive semesters and are dedicated to their school and community. I recieved the Student of the Month award in January of 2007 as well as March of 2008. It has been a great honor. I get to go to the board meetings and say a little bit about my schooling history. For my 2008 award the meeting was actually at my elementary school, which was nice to see where I started, when being so close to ending. The NVUSD has done a lot for me over the years.{2007 Award} {2008 Award}

Rotary Student of the Quarter:
Each month the Rotary Club of Napa chooses a student to recognize for their dedication to the community and their school. I was chosen for New Tech in the February Quarter. My english teacher, Ms. Pollack, nominated me. I went to one of their meetings where they introduced me and had me talk a little bit about myself. It was a great honor. {Award}

Lamp of Knowledge:
I recieved a lamp of knowledge at the end of my junior year. {Certificate}

Plays: One of my main hobbies is theater. I wish that there were more careers, and steady ones at that, with in the field of theater, but there aren’t, so I made it my hobby. Here are some of the plays I have worked on over the years.

South Pacific:
My sister did the lights for South Pacific when Napa High and community put it on. I helped a couple of Saturdays thinking I would be able to work back stage, but the show was going to be running while I was out of town. While I worked there I helped paint backdrops, worked on the fly rail (opening/closing curtains, raising/lowering things), and help set lights in the tension grid. This is where my back stage love started as an ember.

Hansel and Gretel:
This was the sad thing that was the first “real” play that New Tech put on. We had a great cast and we had a little kid story and Sonya as the witch. It was a sad three-day run, but full costumes and us in all of our beauty. We made backdrops, we had props, and even some improve from time to time. I don’t want to sound vain and full of myself, but Alicia and I (the Goblins known as Frick and Frack) were what saved the play. It was fun and got the drama program at Tech rolling, but still pretty pathetic.

But I’m Only 17:
I don’t want to be rude, but if Hansel and Gretel was sad this was more so. It was a great attempt made by Natasha Chapman for her Senior Project. Sadly, the play was a little outdated and some of the cast was not as into it as others and made it difficult to work with. I was supposed to be a back stage help, seeing what it was like behind the scenes, but quickly got moved up to co-stage-manager, main backstage help, and prop mistress. This was my first stage-managing job and I loved it. I got really excited and told our drama teacher to let me know when any type of back stage work opened up.

9th Grade performance of Romeo and Juliet:
Because of my comment to Mrs. Dennett about loving back stage I was asked to stage-manage the one night, freshman performance of Romeo and Juliet. There were many different groups and each one had a scene, which made up the story. I was given a group of people that had never worked back stage and had a blast. The freshman knew nothing about theater, or how to be quiet backstage, but we all had a great time. By the end of that, I knew I was no longer an actress, or a backstage hand, I was a stage manager.

Seascape:
Mrs. Dennett realized my passion for backstage and stage-managing as well, and found me an amazing position as stage-manager for a small, black box production at the local community theater, Dreamweavers. She had been working with them for our drama class the next year and asked if she knew of anyone who would be interested in stage-managing, and I got referred. June Reif was the director for the small production of Edward Albee’s play, Seascape, about an old couple who meet a couple of human size, talking, lizards. She said it was basic stage-manager things plus a few light and sound cues and taking care of props, because it was so small they only needed one person. I was going to be out of town for opening weekend so I had the girl who I co-stage-managed with in But I’m Only 17 help me out. We did everything but act and direct. It was a great way to learn the basics of back stage and a real theater. It was an awesome play, too.
I recieved the Stage Management Award from Dreamweavers for this play. {Award}

A Christmas Carol:.
Because I was in Independent Studies Advanced Drama I needed some hours from Dreamweavers and there was a stage managing position for a readers theater of A Christmas Carol (ACC) by Charles Dickens. We are talking Charles Dickens too. This was the real deal, the real language and almost the whole story. Each of the actors had the script and read out loud their part. But it took more than 3 hours, so we cut it down, and it wasn’t quite the whole story. I co-stage-managed this as well while another friend did costumes. We took care of everything except for acting and directing. This was an even better learning experience than Seascape because I was there from the beginning and was able to learn about how the lights and sound were set up. We had a lot more sounds than I had worked with previously, and a lot more cast members. All around it was really fun backstage work, but a pretty dull play.

Rhinoceros:
With our Advanced Drama class, we have a partnership with Dreamweavers where we get to put on our play at their theater while students worked with them through the year. (Like we had with ACC as well as other people ushered and helped with things like clearing out the costume closet.) Our play is going to be Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco, and I am the stage-manager, co-lights and sound, and costume/make-up. I am really excited to be the only stage manager. I made sure that my friend, who co-stage-managed ACC with me, and I were the lights and sound girls for Rhinoceros because Dreamweavers got a new sound system, and we worked with the old one and deserve a reward for it! It should be fun and like my other plays, except my other plays didn’t have rhinoceroses….one did have lizards though.

Photographs: (Disclaimer)
There are photographs throughout my protfolio. All but one picture was taken either by me, or someone I know. Some of the pictures feature artwork, which are either mine or from the DiRosa Preserve: Art and Nature. The peacocks are from the DiRosa Preserce as well. The people featured in the pictures are me or my freinds. Some pictures were taken at New Tech, featuring some of the student's cars.