Arts and Architecture names Golumbic and Valley Family Scholarships recipients

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The College of Arts and Architecture announced the recipients of the 2024 Golumbic and Valley Family Scholarships at its annual spring awards ceremony in April.

Reuben and Gladys Golumbic Scholarship

The Reuben and Gladys Golumbic Scholarship is one of the most prestigious scholarships given in the college, and recognizes students in the areas of design achievement, humanistic achievement and performance achievement. The scholarship was established by Penn State alumnus Ed Eckl in memory of his adoptive parents. This year's recipients are:

Design Achievement: Lauren Greenfield

Greenfield is a third-year theater design and technology bachelor of fine arts student with an emphasis in costumes. A Pittsburgh native, her work has taken her to costume shops throughout the country each summer. At Penn State, Greenfield has worked in the costume shop stitching for every show that comes through the School of Theatre. Her most notable work has been building costumes for the plays “Amelia” in spring 2023 and “Tartuffe” this semester. She will continue working in theatrical costume shops after graduation with the goal of eventually becoming a draper in New York City.

Humanistic Achievement: Misael Marin

Marin is a third-year landscape architecture student who said he has always wanted to better the lives of others through any means, whether that be helping friends and family or giving food to the homeless. That desire to better others’ well-being fuels his fascination with urban design and urban planning. He is enthusiastic about AI (artificial intelligence) art generation and learning how to integrate AI into the design process of a landscape architect. He is also a musician in his free time, playing drums, piano and bass guitar. After graduation, he plans to pursue a master’s degree in architecture and community planning after working in the field for a few years in urban design or ecological restoration.

Performance Achievement: Regine Torres

Torres is a third-year musical theater major from Manila, Philippines. She has been performing for Penn State Centre Stage since her first year. Some of her favorite credits are “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812” (associate choreographer, dance captain, ensemble), “Brigadoon” (Jean MacLaren), and “Into the Woods” (dance captain, Lucinda, understudy Cinderella). Most recently, she played the role of Adela in Penn State Centre Stage’s production of “Bernarda Alba.” Last summer, she performed in the resident ensemble for Music Theatre Wichita’s 2023 season, in the shows “Rock of Ages” (ensemble), “Red, White, and Broadway” (ensemble), and “Beauty and the Beast” (Plate, Napkin, understudy Babette). In 2023, Torres was also awarded the June H. Ford Memorial Award for Musical Theatre Dance Performance.

Valley Family Scholarship

The Valley Family Scholarship, which is made possible through the generosity of Ginni and Kent Valley, celebrates student excellence from across the college. Recipients are nominated by faculty members as part of the Golumbic Scholarship nomination process. This year's recipients are:

Violet Burney is a biracial composer, harpist and electric bassist from St. Louis, Missouri. She has written several pieces that have been performed at the Penn State composers’ concerts, including her atonal piano piece, “5d8 32d120,” string quartet, “Worker of Six Weeks,” and fixed media piece with custom recording, “Glass Half Crunchy.” Many of her pieces can be found on her YouTube channel, “Violet Feeling Blue,” along with several harp covers she rearranged from other instruments and electronics. She draws influence mostly from video games such as "Zelda: Breath of the Wild", "Undertale," and "Night in the Woods," but also from early 2000s bands and contemporary composers she was exposed to while at Penn State.

Matt Dembiczak is a fourth-year student pursuing concurrent majors in digital art and media design and computer science. Coming from a technical background, he strives to explore the medium of code, using it creatively to reveal, examine, and deconstruct the algorithms that run our society's digital culture. He worked as a software engineer at HPE in summer 2023 and has an upcoming internship at Khan Academy for summer 2024. He was also a technical collaborator on Textural Threshold, an interactive exhibition on display at Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. Following the completion of his undergraduate thesis in May 2025, he plans to pursue a career in software development, as well as a personal passion in independent game development.

Alexandra Guerra is a second-year bachelor of music degree student with a concentration in vocal performance. In the spring of 2023, the soprano performed the role of Mother Gerald in a fully staged production of Poulenc’s "Dialogues of the Carmelites" with Penn State Opera Theatre. In April 2024, she performed the role of Fiordiligi in the Act I finale from Mozart’s "Così fan tutte" with Penn State Opera Theatre and the Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra on their Opera Gala concert in Eisenhower Auditorium. Guerra is a frequent soloist with Penn State’s Essence of Joy choir and has won several recent vocal competitions. Future plans include graduate school and young artist programs before pursuing opera professionally.

Klarissa Hillegass is a fourth-year student in the Digital Art and Media Design program working towards a Bachelor of Design and an art minor in sculpture with planned graduation in May 2025. She specializes in graphic design, 3D modeling, and 3D fabrication. She is the secretary of Digital Media Group and currently holds two on-campus jobs, as a graphic designer for Student Affairs and as an arts engagement assistant at the Center for the Performing Arts. She aims to create work to empower audiences to express how they feel and to promote equity and inclusion.

Megan Marflak is a third-year Schreyer Honors student pursuing a degree in graphic design with a minor in business. Her interest in audience-centric experience design and design storytelling has led her to work on several collaborative projects with real stakeholders and audiences, where she developed impactful design work that resonates with her viewers. She recently accepted a professional UXUI internship with the Universal Orlando Resort team, demonstrating dedication toward her goal of becoming a creative art director in the experience design industry.

Evan Santos has always been inclined to test the boundaries as an aspiring architect, and strives to articulate by hand what is, or might be, seen and felt. Inspired by the norm-breaking products of Louis Kahn and Steven Holl’s storytelling ability, Santos is interested in designing institutional and cultural works ranging from creative arts venues and university campus architecture to museums. Because of his fascination with experiential design, he plans to perform a thorough investigation in his master’s thesis on the patterns and problems within America’s creative arts venues in order to propose a poetic unity among architecture, motion, sound, light and technology in an immersive environment.