It was a point of celebration at the Navajo County Community College District Governing Board meeting on Nov. 20 as Northland Pioneer College (NPC) set new records in play attendance for the Performing Arts Department, had an unprecedented number of applications for scholarships and filled more bowls of soup than in the prior years.
Mike Solomonson, chair and director of the NPC Fine and Performing Arts Department, addressed the board stating, “The Empty Bowls final event on Nov. 16 broke all records from prior years in terms of bowls made, attendance and money raised.”
In September community members gathered at the White Mountain Campus to craft 189 bowls under the guidance of Magda Gluszek, faculty in art. On Nov. 16, 220 people were served a bowl of soup and slice bread, the daily meal of someone in need, for a $10 donation. Solomonson said $2,748 was raised, with all proceeds going to the Love Kitchen in Pinetop. “We also set a new attendance record at the November performances of ‘My Fair Lady,’” continued Solomonson. The 1,128 tickets distributed beat out the 934 tickets distributed during the 2011 performance of “Grease.”
Solomonson also gave a thank you to Chief Information Officer PJ Way, and his staff for the computer work utilized during the production. “We did some animated scenic work with video projection, so we had to have a lot of computers to configure those programs.”
Solomonson also noted, “In the film department, we have been working on a documentary to highlight the Winslow Theater. Winslow is going to have their Cinema Festival in January and the documentary, which discusses the history of the theater, will be part of the festival.”
It was also stated that an art exhibit of paintings by Peterson Yazzie is on display through the spring of 2019 at the Performing Arts Building at the Silver Creek Campus. The public is welcome to stop by and view these paintings.
Betsyann Wilson, executive director of NPC Friends and Family (NPCFF), said during her report that the application period for NPCFF scholarships has closed for the spring semester awards. “We received an unprecedented 68 scholarship applications for the nine scholarships offered through NPCFF,” said Wilson. “We have never offered this many scholarships before either. This is the best quality of applicants and we will be awarding an unprecedented $23,500 for the spring semester for the first time.”
Wilson also noted she is not involved in the review of the scholarships because of the assistance she gives to the applicants. “I am very grateful to my reviewers. Three are board members, Terry Shove for Apache County, Pat Ceballos with the Little Colorado Campus and Tracy Mancuso with the White Mountain Campus. They are joined by NPC Rebecca Hunt and Colleen Readel.”
Each of the recipients of the scholarships will be able to utilize them for the spring semester at the college.
