2009 Recipients

boston college arts council

Student Award Recipients 2009

Award Winners

Senior Award

Jonathan Arpino '09 Management
Jonathan Arpino is a management major in the pre-law program and has been actively involved with the Dance Ensemble since his Freshman year at Boston College, joining the groups executive board in his Sophomore year and elected as the Dance Ensemble's Director in his Senior year. He has also taken part in many other dance groups on campus including performing with the Synergy hip-hop company during his Sophomore year. Jon danced in A Dancer’s Christmas for 2 years and is hailed as a superb dancer of professional quality.

David Bruin '09 Philosophy
David Bruin is a Philosophy and Theater major and has contributed steadily to the arts as a Theater student. As a freshman David was cast in a challenging role in the production of Copenhagen, and since that time he has appeared in lead acting roles in numerous productions. David was selected by the department to direct Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and excelled at his dramaturgical research for the play. David is a natural student: dedicated, disciplined and conscientious, ever open to consider his art in a new light, to push himself to achieve still better work. David has also served as an officer for the Boston College Contemporary Theatre group.

Cara Campanelli '09 History and Music
Cara Campanelli is a History and Music major with a minor in Asian studies and a member of University Chorale, the Boston Collegium, and an award-winning vocalist with BC Bop. She has excelled in vocal performance at Boston College and has used her college experience to extend her horizons into non-Western traditions. Her senior recital will include both jazz and Indian traditional singing. She has been a supportive member of every group she belongs to and has brought attention to Boston College through her academic and performance awards.

Marissa Cohler '09 Philosophy and Studio Art
Marissa Cohler is a double major in Philosophy and Studio Art with a concentration in photography. She has functioned as the senior darkroom staff member, overseeing it during hours of operation and monitoring safety issues. She is also BC’s Student Representative to the Photographic Resource Center, and one of her works is included in the 2009 Student Exhibition at the PRC. Last year Marissa received an advanced study grant for a photography workshop in Maine. She has been a volunteer at festivals, a photographer for career night, and prepared an exhibition of student work at O’Connell house. Marissa has great energy and enthusiasm for all her activities given her time as a volunteer for the Orientation Volunteer for the Office of International Studies, Appalachia Volunteer, and BC First Year Experience.

Stephanie Hurley '09 Education
Stephanie Hurley is a student in the Lynch School of Education, director of the Dance Ensemble, an assistant teacher in Elements of Dance and an excellent choreographer and performer. She hails from Malden, MA, where she studied dance at the Lisa Liston School of Dance and for eight years participated in Melrose Youth Ballet's annual production of "The Nutcracker". Stephanie serves as a research assistant in the Lynch School and a volunteer with the Appalachia Program. She has taught numerous tap classes at the Joanne Langione Dance Center in Newton. She has been with the Boston College Dance Ensemble all four years here as a member, choreographer, and two-year Assistant Director.

Gino Orlandi '09 English
Gino Orlandi is an English major with a creative writing concentration and has published in Stylus. His work has been described by the faculty as "moving and funny, complex and ambitious, sharp-eyed and keen-eared and silky-tongued." His creative honors thesis is an ambitious project: a chronicle of three generations of the Winfields, a farm family in West Virginia. His prose is informed by history as well as classic storytelling influences like Faulkner and Steinbeck, and his fluid, insightful language is always lit by unusual phrases and images. His natural gifts, impossible to teach, are combined with a willingness to be guided and a facility for translating guidance into his own original solutions that make him a truly promising writer.

Matthew Porter '09 Political Science and Theater
Matthew Porter, a Political Science and Theater major, began at Boston College by creating the 24 hour theater experiment, a one day event where groups engage in creating 10 minute production and perform it to raise funds for charity. He received an advanced study grant to create a documentary in Washington called American Voices about the ongoing protests and activists in Washington DC and the following year produced In Good Faith: The Building of a Mosque and a Community here in Boston. He has been a diligent supporter of the Arts and Social Responsibility project and has a passion for journalism and film making addressing social themes and bringing awareness to controversial issues. Most recently Matt’s application for a Fulbright scholarship has been accepted and he will begin filming his next documentary in Turkey.

Nicole Tan '09 Studio Art
Nicole Tan is a Studio Art major with a concentration in Photography and Asian studies minor. She has experience working backstage in the theater and has directed plays for high school students, conducting drama workshops for children in Singapore and South Africa. She has studied abroad at an art school in Italy and did a theology course in India which, as she says, has given her a unique perspective on social issues. Her current senior photography project is approaching strangers in Boston, taking their portrait, and having them write a few sentences about themselves - something I couldn't tell from the picture - a secret or something they would only tell a stranger.

Junior Award

Eung-Jin Lee Maria Rivas

Skye Shirley Julie Trubitt

Sophmore Award

Caitlin Berger Devon Maloney

Caitlin Moran

Arts Council Faculty Award 2009

John Finney, Senior Lecturer, Distinguished Artist in Residence, received the Faculty Award for outstanding contributions to the arts at Boston College. He has been the Director of the 160-voice University Chorale of Boston College since 1993 and has taken this ensemble on concert tours throughout the world’s major cities including Rome, Dublin, Prague, and Vienna. He was appointed conductor of the Boston College Symphony Orchestra in 1999 when he also received the title of Distinguished Artist-in-Residence. John Finney serves as the Director of Music for the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church and has been conductor of the Heritage Chorale in Framingham for the past 22 years. He has held the Handel and Haydn Society Cabot Family Chorusmaster Chair since 1990, and was named Associate Conductor in 1992, directing many of the Society’s performances at the New England Conservatory. John Finney is widely praised for his harpsichord and organ playing; he holds degrees in organ performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and The Boston Conservatory. He has been a prize-winner in several international organ competitions and has recorded for several labels. Currently a senior lecturer at Boston College, John is also faculty at The Boston Conservatory and taught for six years at the Academy for Early Music in Bressanone, Italy. In addition to his many musical accomplishments, John Finney is highly praised by his colleagues and the many students he has connected with over the years at Boston College.

Alumni Award

Brendan Galvin '60, Poet