OCCTAC NEWS

A big "Gracias" to our friend Nikki Soohoo who arranged the LOUDreams Exchanging Art visit to our center the last Saturday of February. Nikki and her friends created a wonderfully inspiring day for our students. Among the LOUDreams' artists were AJ Subat (singer) , Esna Yoon (singer) , Shakeib Siddiq (LOUDreams) , Joseph Aslam (LOUDreams) , Bear Allen-Blaine (drama skit; Jack and the Bean Stalk) , D Duong (DSC dancer) , Cameron Crisostomo (DSC dancer) , Vanessa Born (Bring It On actress) , Meagan Holder (Bring It On actress) and Holland Roden (Bring It On actress).

Just before the end of the year we received several phone calls regarding our student Stefanie Diaz, 15. Back in December reporter Yvette Cabrera had written a very nice article (see previous blog post) about Stefanie for the Orange County Register. Editors at CBS/KCAL in Los Angeles took notice and sent their reporter Suzie Suh and camera man Robert to OCCTAC. Our opera music teacher Renee Rulon Cortez and the Diaz family graciously cleared their schedules to film this segment. You may have heard that many of our students just like Stefanie no longer receive federal grant money that allowed them to attend classes at OCCTAC. We are trying to provide services as best we can under the cutbacks but we do need your help! Please consider sponsoring students by making a donation to the center. If you would like to learn more about our programs and the possibility of sponsoring one child, please contact Dr. Ana Jimenez Hami at 714 547 5468.