The purpose of the FUSYE scholarship is to foster a new generation of future leaders with the knowledge and desire to build bridges of mutual respect and friendship between Finland and the United States and to build enthusiasm and public awareness of relations between our two nations. The Finland-US Senate Youth Exchange Scholarship has been funded by the Government of Finland since 1982 and is administered by Youth For Understanding International Exchange. [Press release: pdf]

The two Juniors were honored by Congresswoman Jackie Speier at her office last Tuesday, April 30. Visit Congresswoman Speier's facebook page to see photos of Ms. Liu's winning painting, No War Zone. Read more about the Congressional Art Competition here.

The Vocal Department is thrilled to announce that Nicole Koh took 1st place in the art song division and 2nd place in the musical theater division. Olivia Cosio placed third in the art song division, and SOTA alum Kelsey Lauritano took 1st in the college division for musical theater. WAY TO GO SOTA!!!!

The Hal Leonard competition is a national search and very competitive. Applicants from all over the United States submit videos in the fall and have to wait until May for the results. Not only have these students won prize money and free stock in Hal Leonard publications, their videos will also be posted on the Hal Leonard website and sent to every music school in the U.S. and Canada.

You can check out their official YouTube videos here:

Nicole Koh: "Bright is the Ring of Words", "O come, o come my dearest"

Nicole Koh: "Green Finch and Linnet Bird", "Wishing you were somehow here again" 

Olivio Cosio: "Zueignung", "Chanson D'Amour"

Kelsey Lauritano: "Vanilla Ice Cream", "Girl in 14G"