[By Gail Campbell · Images courtesy College Board and ACE / FAAE]

Creating Their Way To College—Florida's Arts Recognition Scholarship Program

"The State of Florida has one of the most influential advocates for the arts in our First Lady, Columba Bush," says Bob Radock, president of Arts for a Complete Education / the Florida Alliance for Arts Education (ACE/FAAE). Since the early 1980s, the Florida Alliance for Arts Education has united educators, artists, community leaders, concerned citizens, arts and arts education organizations, and corporate partners to ensure Florida's students a complete education that includes the arts. Upon becoming Florida's First Lady, Mrs. Bush has dedicated her time and energy to promoting art appreciation and education among Florida's young people, traveling to schools across the state to draw attention to the variety of arts education programs Florida's public schools have to offer. "Through the arts, our young people learn basic values that will serve them well throughout their entire lives," Mrs. Bush says. "These values will keep them focused on discipline, creativity, and self-reliance and prevent them from falling into the temptations that face so many of our youth today."

In 1999, Mrs. Bush approached ACE/FAAE to establish a partnership to carry out her arts initiatives. Together they established the Florida First Lady's Arts Initiative, and through that, the Arts Recognition Scholarship Program to honor high school seniors who have demonstrated exemplary talents in music, media, dance, theatre, and visual arts. Each year, 24 Florida high school seniors are awarded $1,000 scholarships on the basis of artistic merit and academic excellence. More than 300 outstanding high school seniors applied for the prestigious award in 2004. Following strict guidelines, students were required to submit a portfolio of their work and an essay on an established topic, "How the Arts Influenced My Life" or "The Role of the Arts in My Future." Independent judges, experts in their respective arts fields, reviewed each application to select the scholarship winners.

The scholarships are intended to assist students with pursuing further study in their chosen art form. Each spring, the Governor and Mrs.Bush host a reception at the Governor's Mansion to congratulate the young artists and meet their families and teachers.

After graduating from high school, the scholarship winners continue to pursue their artistic talents in higher learning and the professional world. Past scholarship winners are currently attending colleges and universities throughout Florida, Alabama, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington, D.C. These students now create and perform all across the world, from Orlando to New York City, and in Europe and Jamaica.

The success of the Arts Recognition Scholarship Program has reinforced Mrs. Bush's determination to help make the arts an important part of the education of Florida's students and to develop more programs to assist with such an effort. She says, "We owe a debt of gratitude for the immeasurable gifts of art to many---the artists themselves, collectors, advocates, and our young people with hopes and dreams for a bright future. Florida's artistic landscape, past and present, is vibrant and rich, and we have so much to learn and share."

The First Lady's commitment and support for arts education is welcomed, and shared by the leaders of Florida's arts education community. Dr.Mary Palmer, a founding member of ACE/FAAE, observes, "When experiences in the arts are enriched through educational opportunities, they become transformative in the lives of participants...Recent studies provide clear evidence of what supporters of the arts in education have known for some time: The arts help all students to succeed in school and in life; quality arts education programs have a greater likelihood of being a part of the school curriculum when school and community leaders have come together to make that goal a reality; and the arts can provide a way to engage youth who are not being reached through traditional schooling."