LaGuardia
HS Students Score in the Arts
by Constance Boykan
All
three of LaGuardia’s nominees have been selected
as 2004 Presidential Scholars in the Arts. They
are among the 20 selected nationwide!
LaGuardia
awardees are Jia Lei (Jenny) Li, violin, who plans
to attend Harvard, and dancers Nigel Campbell and
Chanel DaSilva, both of whom will be attending
The Juilliard School in the fall.
The
National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts
presented the 18 LaGuardia awards at the LaGuardia
Awards Assembly recently. The students will perform
at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on June
21, 2004.
Jenny
(Jialei) Li, seventeen-year-old violinist, debuted
as soloist at age 10 as the first-prize winner
of the Clear Lake Symphony Concerto Competition.
Since her solo debut she has claimed many prizes
in Texas scholarship competitions. Jenny was born
in China and moved to the United States at the
age of three. She began her violin studies at the
age of five in Houston, Texas. Jenny has been a
New Horizons Fellowship student at the Aspen Music
Festival from 2001-2003. She is graduating from
the Juilliard Pre-College in New York.
Chanel
DaSilva is a native New Yorker and was born and
raised in Brooklyn, NY. Since the age of four,
she has always dreamed of becoming a professional
dancer. When dance became more than just a hobby
for her she realized it was her destiny to dance.
Now, at the age of eighteen, her dreams are quickly
becoming a reality. Her training comes from the
Creative Outlet Dance Theater of Brooklyn. Along
with performing for Michael Jackson and Savion
Glover, Chanel has performed Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations’’ with
the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Now, at
the age of eighteen, Chanel is a senior at LaGuardia
High School of the Arts. She was selected, out
of 6,500 applicants, to attend National ARTS Week
with the National Foundation for Advancement in
the Arts (NFAA). After Juilliard, Chanel’s
dream is to tour the world, spreading love and
inspiration through her dancing. “Dance is
my love, my heart, and my passion. Life is a journey
I can only live once, and dance makes my journey
worthwhile!”
Nigel
R. Campbell is currently a senior at LaGuardia
High School. Nigel has received additional training
from The Ailey School in New York, Dance Theater
of Harlem, Studio Maestro and the Miami City Ballet
School. “There is no doubt in my mind that
I want to be a great dancer. I strongly believe
that dance can take you to an internal place words
cannot reach. It grants a deeper understanding
of the soul no language can express. When I perform,
the passion takes over me. I forget about everything
else and lose myself in the moment. For me, dance
is about power, passion and intensity. It’s
about communicating. It’s about telling a
story and above all reaching people. If the audience
can’t feel my love of what I do when I’m
performing, then all the technique and high legs
in the world wouldn’t matter. If the audience
doesn’t believe it, then to me, it simply
doesn’t matter. I do not want to just be
another dancer. I want to make a mark on the artistic
community by enriching it with my whole self. That
does not necessarily mean becoming famous, it only
means being a real and sincere artist. Dance is
my voice. It allows me to scream out to the world
without making a sound, yet somehow, people always
get my point.”
Nigel
is incredibly happy that he has had so many opportunities
to learn and to grow this year, and is excited
to experience what the future has in store for
him.#
Constance
Boykan is the Executive Director of Alumni & Friends
at LaGuardia HS. She is also a member of the
Class of ‘59.