PSWC Art Scholarship Winner 2018 Paige Baldwinson

by Russell Frank

We are pleased to announce our 2018 Scholarship winner. We had numerous very talented school aged artists submit their applications. The decision for the PSWC Board of Directors was very difficult.  The balloting did come to a definite consensus of whom our scholarship should be awarded to for this year. Paige Baldwinson is our scholarship winner.

Paige is currently a high school senior and is attending Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, California. She stated that she is carrying an exceptional 3.94 grade point average and has been on the honor roll all four years. She informed me that she intends to pursue a degree in fine arts and then obtain employment utilizing her art education. Paige plans to attend University of California at Santa Barbara’s art college. She is a wonderful addition to our successful graduates who have won our scholarship competition in previous years.

Her extracurricular activities include participation in the Cal North Olympic Development Soccer Program, Varsity Soccer at Archbishop Mitty High School and Competitive Club Soccer traveling team for eight years. She was involved with a Habitat for Humanity Home Building Project, tutoring children in South San Jose, and at Full Circle Farm providing food for the needy. She has also taken art classes including a UCLA Summer Art Program and summer art programs at her high schools in 2013 and 2014.

She stated that “For as long as I have been drawing seriously, I have been interested in drawing people.  I was initially drawn to portraits because of my fascination for the human face….what began as a hobby has now turned into a driving passion that I hope to develop into a career. I am interested in realism and constantly improving my accuracy and proportions over time.” She works mainly in charcoal and pastel.

The board wants to thank Sabrina Hill, a PSWC board member, for contacting Paige’s art instructor, Sandra Jones, and informing her of this scholarship opportunity. A special thanks to Sandra Jones for passing this information on to a very talented student artist.

This year I sent out the scholarship information to 57 high schools, a junior college and universities within Stanislaus County. I also included schools in Sutter and Placer County in California as well as schools in Chandler and Mesa Arizona. Next year I plan to focus on the above schools as well as schools in Sutter, Siskiyou and Trinity Counties.  If you are in another county, please seek out students in your area and inform them of our scholarship.

Our scholarship is offered on an annual basis to graduating seniors in high school, junior college students and up to a junior in a four year university or an accredited art school. Our annual final application acceptance date is March 31 of each year.  Keep this in mind if you observe a talented student for our next year’s scholarship opportunity.

For more info: scholarsship@pswc.ws