Portsmouth Pro Musica announces its 2023 scholarship recipients
PORTSMOUTH — Every year, the Portsmouth Pro Musica chorus takes special pride in awarding scholarships to help graduating seniors who have demonstrated academic excellence and achievement in the arts to advance in their future studies. The 2023 recipients are Nicholas Tavares and Lilly Hirsch from Portsmouth High School and Michaela Dowd from Exeter High School. Each has received a scholarship in the amount of $500.
Nicholas Tavares
Portsmouth High School graduate Nick Tavares will begin a four-year study of theater education at the University of New Hampshire, then plans to attain a masters in the field on the secondary level. What he’s ultimately striving for in his career is to help young people foster a strong identity.
“Every single kid deserves to be themselves and should be celebrated,“ he says. “If I can just allow and help even one kid to find themselves through theater, then I win. I want to be to the kids of the future as my teachers were to me: someone who promoted my art, my character, and what I stand for as a person.”
At UNH, he also looks forward to participating in small ensemble opportunities like pep band and the UNH vocal project.
Tavares honed his theater skills through acting and technical jobs at regional and educational theaters like Firehouse Center of the Arts, Upside Arts Theater Company (where he was also a counselor-in-training), and the Seacoast Rep Theater. He has also studied voice and piano at PMAC. Apart from theater, he served on the board of the National Honors Society and was a member of the New Hampshire Liberal Arts Scholars.
An active volunteer as well, Tavares led activities at theater summer camp for the past five summers and has helped supply clothes and food for the needy through local public service groups like Crossroads and Bridge Over Troubled Waters.
Lilly Hirsh
As she prepares to enter Marymount Manhattan College, Lilly Hirsch eagerly anticipates majoring in psychology and focusing on dance.
“I have always been fond of helping people, she says, “and that has been my ultimate goal with psychology and my future with it. I have always been interested in what the brain does for us. Why and how does the brain send us these messages? How to people’s brains work differently?”
Hirsch has been active in dance for the last 15 years, studying multiple dance styles at the Holly Jane Dance Center and the Portsmouth School of Ballet, and working as a choreographer and dance teacher at Upside Arts, Seacoast Repertory Theater, Portsmouth Middle and High School, and at the Prescott Park Arts Festival. Along with original shows, she has also choreographed Frog and Toad, Frozen Jr., and Cinderella and has 8 years of stage experience in musical theater.
For the past two years, Hirsch has been an active volunteer with Peer Leadership, a school volunteer group that provides beach and campus cleanups, homework help, and soup kitchen assistance.
Her awards include membership in the National Technical Honors Society and a 4th place finish as a sophomore soloist through Musical Theatre Competitions of America.
Michaela Dowd
Michaela Dowd will travel to the University of Southern California to major in Chemical Engineering and, through the university’s renowned Thornton School of Music, minor in Musical Studies.
Since 2019, Dowd has served as a lead counselor for Coyote Club Wildlife education, an experience she says has strongly contributed to her career choice.
“Teaching kids ecology and wilderness skills as a lead counselor in Coyote Club has fueled my interest in chemical engineering to solve environmental issues in sustainability through carbon capture. Carbon dioxide has taken over our world. I hope to explore the potential of developing new techniques for sequestering carbon dioxide that are based upon natural processes.”
Dowd plans to further develop her skills on the alto sax by joining both the USC Thornton Winds Ensemble and the Trojan Marching Band. Both, she hopes, will help “to bring the power of music to my fellow engineers and serve as an inspiration for the USC Viterbi engineering student body.”
Dowd attained academic superiority with a weighted GPA of 5.329, was a member of the National Honor Society, the marching and symphonic bands, and the Tri-M Music Honor Society Jazz Band. For 2022 she received a National Hispanic Recognition Award and a National Rural and Small Town Recognition Award, among many others. Her volunteer/community service work includes founding a local teen meditation program and helping to raise over $4,000 for cancer research. Michaela is also a 1st degree black belt in Shudokan karate and applies her ten years of training as an instructor in her association.
Portsmouth Pro Musica extends sincere congratulations to its 2023 scholarship recipients and wishes each of them success in their educational and professional endeavors.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth Pro Musica announces its 2023 scholarship recipients
