Caltech Student to Launch Photography Project with 5th Graders

PASADENA, Calif.—Fifth grade students from Pasadena will use photography to document their lives thanks to a $10,000 scholarship from the Donald A. Strauss Public Service Scholarship Foundation. California Institute of Technology student Andrea Vasconcellos received the scholarship to work with the children.

Vasconcellos' project will allow children to create an art display of their daily lives, thereby reinforcing their self-esteem and confidence, and encouraging a sense of accomplishment. Vasconcellos' goal is to help the children, who come from low-income homes, cope with their environments and experience success in their lives. They will be given cameras and film to photograph the events in their daily lives, as well as to capture images of their dreams for the future. A collage of these pictures will be exhibited at Caltech in the spring of 2005.

Vasconcellos, a junior majoring in biology, is originally from Morganville, New Jersey. She is active in many Caltech organizations, including the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology, where she is senior class co-president; the Caltech Women's Center; the Caltech Christian Fellowship; and the Caltech Women's Track and Field team.

The Donald A. Strauss Foundation in Newport Beach is committed to providing funding for recipients who have extensive records of community and public service, and who have demonstrated a desire to "make a difference." The foundation provides no fewer than 14 public service scholarships annually, each in the amount of $10,000, to California college juniors.

Contact: Deborah Williams-Hedges (626) 395-3227 [email protected]

Visit the Caltech Media Relations Web site at: http://pr.caltech.edu/media

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