Iris Spik of Stevensville and Hanna Kingsley of Queenstown are this year’s recipients of the Queen Anne’s County Arts Council scholarships. The two were honored at the Arts Council’s annual Board of Directors’ Senior High School Scholarship Awards dinner at Prospect Bay Country Club on May 16. The girls were each awarded a $1,000 for their outstanding contribution to the arts. Scholarship committee member and former Arts Council board member Kathy Draper presented the awards which recognize academic and artistic achievement.
Iris is a 2011 graduate from Kent Island High School who has been singing since elementary school. She is a member of the school’s International Thespian Troupe and Concert Choir and is a four year honoree of All Shore Chorus as well as a member of the National Honor Society. She has performed at several community events, including Kent Island Day and last year’s grand opening of the Queen Anne’s Emergency Center and was a regular on the stage in high school productions. She is attending Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
Hanna is a 2011 graduate of Queen Anne’s County High School and president of the school’s Anime Club as well as serving as the group’s treasurer for three years. Her work has been installed in all school hosted art shows since her freshman year and she has explored all available visual art media including graphite, charcoal, ink, markers, colored pencil, watercolor, wood-burning, ceramics and sculpture. Her most recent endeavor is the Peace Crane Project which seeks to gain awareness for anti-bullying efforts in and out of schools. Hanna will continue her education at Chesapeake College studying in their Fine Arts program.
For the third year in a row, scholarship winners were also given an additional $1,000 award in honor of the memory of Clara Ann Simmons. The award was established in 2008 by daughters Ellen and Beth Simmons to honor their mother and to celebrate her life, friends and her impact on her community .The late Simmons was a resident of Chestertown and was a life-long supporter and patron of the arts who volunteered with the Arts Council every week for 12 years. An author of numerous children’s and non-fiction books, Simmons appreciated history and incorporated it into her work.
The Arts Council’s annual scholarship was established in 1989 to assist Queen Anne’s County high school students in pursuing their arts education. For more information about the program, call the office, 410-758-2520.
The Queen Anne’s County Arts Council, Inc., is a non-profit organization committed to promoting, expanding and sustaining the arts. They are funded in part by the Maryland State Arts Council. Visit them on the web at www.arts4u.info.