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Barrett Eastman
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singing
Link: https://vimeo.com/431286254
Barrett Eastman, who loves singing, biking, playing volleyball and hanging out with friends, has been in more than 20 musical theater performances and shared she “cannot wait to attend Pali High” this year as a freshman because of their performances. Eastman has sung the National Anthem for the community three times, including before the Fourth of July Kids Fun Run and Turkey Trot. She was slated to perform at the PPBA Opening Day festivities this March before it was canceled due to COVID-19.
Eastman graduated from Corpus Christi School earning First Honors and the President’s Education Award. She played volleyball for the school and was a setter for all four years. Before the pandemic, Eastman enjoyed helping out her community and school.
Lola Stockard
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singing
Link: https://youtu.be/8wevkxkujdE
Lola Stockard shared that she has always had a passion for musical theater. Stockard participates in musicals, plays, choir, acapella and technical theater at Pali High, and she is currently president of AcaPali and section leader in Advanced Choir. She co-founded an upcoming club with one of her friends called “Act One,” which is designed to help freshmen and those new to theater feel like a part of the performing arts community at Pali High.
Stockard has also volunteered at the Class Act Community Playhouse since she was in sixth grade, having done “every job in the book,” from helping kids learn lines to taking out the trash and being an assistant casting director. She also works with a community service-based group at Pali High, Theater for Change, to produce shows to raise money for charity.
In addition to theater, Stockard shared that she has a passion for academics and has made it a priority to have been in the honor roll each year.
Rose Sutton
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Filmmaking
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFxamMcBLRs
Rose Sutton, who has been editing on Final Cut Pro for six years, has an interest in filmmaking and dance, and credits Katy Perry as one of the main influences behind her growing passion for music video production. Past and recent projects throughout her school years include editor of “#BLACKLIVESMATTER PCHS Video,” co-editor of a short film titled “Anxiety” and dance, choreographer, director, producer and editor of “A Rose Grows.”
In addition to an array of AP classes, including United States History, Government, Language and Literature, Sutton made honor roll all four years and earned a math certificate of achievement sophomore year for Geometry 1B.
Sutton was a member of the Theatre for Change and A Sense of Home clubs, president of Arts of Color, an assistant at YMCA Summer Daycare, and treasurer of the Middle Eastern Student Union, among others.
“I have frequently moved from private Jewish school to public school, which has given me exposure to diverse communities and helped me become increasingly in touch with my Jewish identity,” the Pali High grad shared.
Erika Gedgaudas
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singer/Songwriter
Link: https://youtu.be/nva-NaL0jVg
Heading into her senior year at Pali High, Erika Gedgaudas shared that when campuses were open, she participated in musicals and plays, and was a member of Concert Choir. She is also a member of the Lithuanian Scouts Association, which allows her to help younger kids learn how to be a good scout, and is working to get her blue tie.
“At home, I’m raising a vegetable garden and I’m teaching myself how to make music—production, mixing, mastering and writing,” Gedgaudas shared. “I’m far from perfect, but I don’t mind. Being perfect is boring anyways.”
For the 2020-21 school year, Gedgaudas will be choir president alongside three friends. Before the pandemic, Gedgaudas was a backstage hand at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre. Now that she has more time inside, she has started an online magazine called GEM with friends, which she described as a way to get friends and strangers to share their talents, thoughts and artistic abilities to give back to the artistic community.
Kylie Elyashar
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singing/Music
Kylie Elyashar’s list of extracurricular activities includes Youth & Government, DECA, CATS musical theatre, iCare Foundation volunteer, Plasticos Foundation volunteer, Jewish club and Concert Choir—she shared that she loves music, but believes in maintaining a consistent academic life. Elyashar has been on Pali High’s honor roll four consecutive times.
Beyond academics, Elyashar shared that she loves musical theatre, and spends most of the day training and learning new music. She has been a part of CATS Theatre for six years and has had many lead roles in their productions.
“Music has always been my pull, and I wrote and performed my songs for special events at Canyon Charter for all of my elementary school years,” Elyashar said. “I love sharing music because it has brought me so much happiness.”
Elyashar sings for Holocaust survivors at a luncheon the iCare Foundation hosts every few months. She also volunteers through Y&G and DECA to provide community service to the neighborhood.
Savannah Scott
School: Pacifica Christian High School
Talent: Singing
Link: https://youtu.be/7jY2rwlSIsg
Savannah Scott has been dancing since she was 4 years old, which led to her discovery of musical theatre at the age of 6 when she knew she wanted to perform for the rest of her life. The Pacifica Christian High School student takes weekly vocal lessons and five to six hours of dance per week at Fancy Feet. She also performs in all the school plays and musicals, as well as community shows with CATS theatre company.
“My favorite performance, however, has always been Fancy Feet’s charity show ‘Our Gift of Light,’ where I can use my gifts to give back to my community,” Scott said.
Scott, a born and raised Christian, said that it is a huge part of who she is and that without her faith, she does not think it would be possible for her to pursue a career in musical theatre.
“I am proud to say that because of the strength my faith provides I have been able to compete in many vocal competitions, win second place for the Pop Category in NATS and make it to semi-finals in the Theatre Category many times,” she said.
Scott also volunteers with her church’s youth group and leads small group discussions with middle school girls as well as co-leading a Bible study. Due to her passion for the environment, Scott joined the Heal the Bay club at Pacifica where she picks up trash at local beaches.
Michael Francoeur
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singing/Harmonica/Piano
Link: https://youtu.be/9xNyyg_uMYQ
While at Pali High, Michael Francoeur said he is working with Coach Voelkel most of the time for the baseball team, but he balances this with piano, a small amount of singing and occasional harmonica. He added that AP is practically an extracurricular for him, due to the amount of time it takes up.
Francoeur, who moved to the area in 2008 from Chicago, has participated in “quite a few talent shows,” and in eighth grade, he performed “Africa” by Toto and then wormed off the stage.
While working to make the varsity baseball team, Francoeur dedicated time to Teen Court and helped set up the Haunted House at Palisades Recreation Center’s annual Spooktacular. He also used to altar-serve at church, but spends most of his free time now completing homework.
He enjoys surfing and mountain bike dirt-jumping.
Sierra Sugarman
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Piano
Link: https://youtu.be/FuUG_oaX_C4
Entering her sophomore year at Pali High, Sierra Sugarman shared that when she is not playing the piano or spending time with her “amazing friends and family,” she is a part of the school’s girls golf team, Youth & Government, Palisades Ambassadors and Junior State of America. She is also involved with her temple.
“Piano has always been a large part of me as it allows me to express myself and is a constant challenge,” Sugarman said.
She passed level 8 of the Certificate of Merit last February where she received branch and statewide honors, and was asked to perform in the convention. She is preparing to take the level advanced exam. She also took home third place in the Colibri Instrumental Competition in 2018 and has participated in the Liana Cohen Jewish Festival multiple times since 2014.
Sugarman shared that she is happy to be a part of the Westside Chapter of the National Charity League and enjoys giving back to her community. Some of her most memorable experiences with the group include volunteering at beach clean-ups, creating snack bags for the Ronald McDonald House and making paracord bracelets for Operation Gratitude.
This summer, Sugarman is a counselor for a camp at the Upward Bound House.
Kaitlyn Taft
School: New Roads School
Talent: Piano
Link: https://vimeo.com/439634806
Kaitlyn Taft, a straight-A student at New Roads School, shared that some of her favorite extracurriculars include taking piano lessons as well as dance classes at Fancy Feet, which she has been doing for almost 12 years.
“I play piano mostly by ear and memory,” Taft explained. “In other words, even though I have been playing piano for a while—10 years, which I personally do not think is as long as most people—I have never really been able to grasp or comprehend sheet music all that well. Many of the piano pieces I know how to play I have taught myself just by listening to the songs over and over a few times … after learning these pieces by ear, I can memorize them and play them in full.”
Some of Taft’s volunteer work includes making lunches and a Thanksgiving meal with her family at a food bank and Kehillat Israel, cleaning up the beach area at Venice, and working as a teacher’s assistant at KI teaching kids about Judaism, what it means to be a Jewish person in today’s society, and helping them prepare for their bar, bat or b’nai mitzvahs.
She shared that she has found each experience rewarding because she loves helping out others and making people feel good.
Chantal Trent
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singing/Songwriting/Production
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vO5gRMFi14
Chantal Trent, who participates in theater with Liza Monjauze Productions, shared that she enjoys working in her home, make-shift studio and creating music of her own.
“I’ve been writing songs since fifth grade and now have over 60 songs,” the Pali High student explained of her talent. “My main instruments are guitar and piano.”
Trent has a self-released album with 13 songs titled “Lights” in addition to an EP with five songs called “11.”
She has worked with LA Rabbits for adoption and participated in Paul Revere campus cleanups. During the pandemic, Trent and her family have been holding a food drive that has benefitted a church assigned to them by the Los Angeles food bank.
Emi Affeld
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singing/Guitar
Link: https://youtu.be/5zmlbyUZSUY
Emi Affeld spends her Sundays with the Los Angeles Youth Symphony at rehearsals for the group’s two annual concerts. During the fall season, she was an attorney with the Paul Revere Mock Trial Team—the group made it to the semi-finals one year.
Affeld, who will start at Pali High this fall, won the Seggelke award and scholarship for violin, the subject award for music, and the mock trial MVP award. She graduated from Paul Revere with honors.
“I love dogs and spend time volunteering with Voice For The Animals when I get a chance,” Affeld shared.
Affeld also crochets and donates beanies to Knots of Love and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Over the course of the pandemic, Affeld, along with her sister and mother, have made more than 200 masks to donate to healthcare workers to help with the shortage of PPE.
Rachel Lande
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singing/Guitar
Link: https://youtu.be/mPfsAMWBB6k
Rachel Lande, a Pali High student, is a competitive rower who shared that she lives to help out the community. Lande holds a national record in rowing for the fastest 14-year-old girl in the U.S. at a 2K. She also loves to surf and workout, and she likes to babysit and is interested in anything medical.
Lande has volunteered at her rower club over the summers and has volunteered in the community, including helping out at Spooktacular at Palisades Recreation Center and at the Marquez annual Halloween fair.
Coco Merritt
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singing/Piano
Link: https://youtu.be/NNuYLSqfwNk
Coco Merritt has been playing piano since the age of 4 and a member of the West Los Angeles Children’s Choir since she was 6. She also acts and models, as well as plays tennis.
“I’ve performed at many live music awards, including the Radio Disney Music Awards, along with live television shows such as the ‘Ellen DeGeneres Show’ and ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’” Merritt explained.
She is a member of the USTA Youth Leadership Council, which allows her to participate in community events, and she volunteers at her brother’s school on a regular basis. Merritt is a Pali Ambassador, volunteers for her tennis community, and is a part of nonprofit organization “Music Tree,” which uses money raised from concerts through her piano studio to give music lessons to those who cannot afford it.
“I also work with kids with autism and teach them how to play tennis through Aceing Autism,” Merritt concluded.
Shirel Farasatpour
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Piano
Link:https://youtu.be/377PDE6BCI8
ShirelFarasatpour, an honor roll student at Pali High, shared that her extracurricular activities include basketball, piano and fashion. Farasatpour added that she helps the community through Chabad of Pacific Palisades.
Jack Essner
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Acting/Singing/Filmmaking
Link: https://youtu.be/KfhgZyI7ewU
In addition to being involved with music theater and play productions, Jack Essner recently co-founded Act One, a theater club with the aim to expose students to the arts. He takes weekly acting classes at The Ruskin School of Acting, where he has been able to explore his passion for acting, filmmaking and writing. Essner also has played tennis at The Riviera Country Club since the age of 5.
“This year I directed a varsity division scene for Pali High at the Drama Teachers Association of Southern California that won fifth place out of approximately 60 schools,” Essner, who is also an honor roll student of three years, shared.
Essner has traveled to Idyllwild for two summers to attend Camp Ronald McDonald For Good Times to perform and interact with children and families who have been affected by cancer, in addition to participating in various community service events like teaching tennis to underprivileged children and helping them receive free tennis shoes.
“Through my school’s concert choir, I have visited various elderly homes, homes for abused and neglected families, and a veterans center,” Essner concluded. “I have participated in benefits such as Gift of Light hosted by Fancy Feet Dance Studio and Theater For Change.”
Diya Prakash
School: Palisades Charter High School
Talent: Singing
Link: https://youtu.be/W54L0uCZLOs
Diya Prakash does concert choir at Palisades Charter High School and at the Colburn Music Conservatory. She has traveled with choirs to other countries to perform.
Through the many choirs Prakash has been in, she has gotten to attend what she described as many incredible charity fundraisers, travel the world, and perform at and with many different schools.
“I’ve helped set up several performances as well as performed in a benefit concert on Christmas,” Prakash shared. “I’ve also worked with a church over Thanksgiving to box 700 boxes for families without food.”
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