Senior Scholarships.
Each year VPA awards three $1000 scholarships to local graduating seniors. These are students who have demonstrated outstanding passion, involvement, and skill throughout high school.
Students may apply for any VPA scholarships but will only be eligible to receive a single award. Applications are due in May and include an essay, resume, and two recommendations. Winners are announced in June.
Meara Boughey was a 2018 graduate of Sherwood High School (SHS), a valedictorian, and recipient of the Voices for the Performing Arts (VPA) Vocal Performance Scholarship. Meara’s passion for singing grew exponentially in her early high school years when she joined her friends in a variety of choirs and musicals. By her junior year of high school, Meara had been admitted to the award winning SHS a capella choir—the Mixolydians—and was a soloist throughout their competition season.
On stage, Meara was cast as Marty Maraschino in the 2017 SHS sold out production of "Grease," which she followed up by playing the Queen of Hearts in the VPA's fall musical "Alice in Wonderland Jr." During her senior year in 2018, she played the lead role of Maria in SHS's production of "West Side Story" to standing ovations and much acclaim.
Meara’s practice and dedication led to a scholarship to attend the prestigious theatre program at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles, California. In spite of the challenges created by the global pandemic, Meara managed to land multiple supporting and lead roles at LMU and by the time she graduated summa cum laude in 2022, she was ready to begin the journey towards fulfilling her dream of being an actress on Broadway.
After signing with an agent and moving to New York City in August of that same year, Meara was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). She lost her fierce battle with the aggressive disease on March 12, 2023.
VPA is honored to remember her by renaming the performing arts scholarship after Meara.
Students involved in choir or theatre are encouraged to apply. Students must have participated in at least one VPA activity.
Kris Kearsley
Visual Arts Scholarship.
Kristina Lee Kearsley moved to Sherwood with her family in 2002. Before passing away from pancreatic cancer in November 2016, she was an active volunteer for the Voices for the Performing Arts Foundation and other community organizations. She dedicated hundreds of hours annually to designing and painting sets for the VPA, Sherwood Foundation for the Arts, and Sherwood High School theater productions.
Her most recognizable work was the sets and backdrops she painted for the various VPA junior musicals and concerts. What started as painting small boards became huge scrims. As one who shied away from attention, she could often be found by herself late into the evening transferring her vision onto canvas in cold, damp barns, the empty stages of Sherwood’s performing arts center, or whatever space the VPA could find that was big enough to hang the scrims.
Perhaps it is most fitting that the last set she painted before her death was for Alice in Wonderland. It was a wonder how she accomplished so much in her 47 years, particularly the last 16 months of her life since her diagnosis. Despite the pain and weariness caused by her grueling chemotherapy sessions, she found the energy to travel to Las Vegas, New York, Southern California, Hawaii, Sacramento, and Idaho. She also painted the sets for the high school’s production of Guys and Dolls and the VPA’s production of Peter Pan.
She gave so much to the VPA, and we want to honor her and her work with a scholarship that reveres creativity and selflessness. To us, she will never be forgotten, and we hope that students who apply for her scholarship will learn more not only about what she did for the VPA, but for the entire community of Sherwood.
Students involved in visual arts are encouraged to apply.
Amanda Polopolus
Theatre Arts Scholarship.
Amanda Kristina Polopolus was a founding member of the VPA's "Glam Squad', even lending the group its name. She began volunteering with the VPA in 2013 when she used her amazing talent and artistry to turn aspiring actors into villagers and Belle into Beauty during the VPA's fall production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast Jr. A licensed Cosmetologist employed at Savvy Hair Salon in Old Town Sherwood, Amanda's love of theater and passion for all things Disney was infectious. She helped transform hundreds of children into their characters and every child who sat in her "chair" for their "Glam" appointment was surrounded by encouragement, joy and a little pixy dust. Because of Walt Disney's attention to detail, Amanda admired him so, and yet this was her special gift, too. She intertwined her life with Walt’s, moonlighting at the Disney Store just so she could get away with saying, "Have a magical day!" She truly wanted that for others. In March 2016, on her way to Disneyland, she was in a fatal car accident that took her suddenly. It was devastating to everyone who'd been touched by her life.
Although Amanda's work for the VPA was professional and she often spent more hours during a show volunteering than she did "working" at her day job, every minute spent was a gift born out of a desire to share her talents, her love of live theater and the joy she found in making dreams come true. Amanda's contributions were priceless. The quality and level of excellence she brought to the VPA's productions will always be remembered as truly remarkable. We will never forget Amanda and we hope the students who apply for her scholarship will learn from the legacy she left and share their talents and gifts as freely in their future endeavors as she did for us.
Students involved in theatre arts are encouraged to apply.