AREA PEOPLE OF NOTE

The Family Music Center named Nina Nguyen the January 2019 Student of the Month for her dedication to and appreciation of music. She has been taking piano lessons for about two and half years and has progressed so quickly that she is now one of the center’s most talented students. Nina is in third grade and enjoys playing the recorder, creating artwork and writing. For additional information, call or email the Family Music Center at 203-288-5647 or FamilyMusicCenter@yahoo.com.

Valerie Garlick and Natalie Elicker, former executive directors of the Institute Library in New Haven, are winners of the Kate McClelland Librarian’s Award, one of three professional awards presented at the 38th annual Connecticut Storytelling Festival and Conference in New London on April 26-27. The Librarian’s Award celebrates “nurturing professional storytelling and storytellers in Connecticut libraries.” Garlick and Elicker received the award for their work with a story sharing group at the Institute Library, which has grown to include a whole new cadre of story lovers and storytellers.

Wurood Mahmood, of New Haven, a student at Gateway Community College, was recently awarded a $25,000 scholarship at the Community Transfer Student Exhibition at the Hartford Art School. Mahmood learned she received the scholarship to the art school at the University of Hartford based on the merit of her submissions. Mahmood, who is originally from Iraq, learned about the exhibition from her professors at GCC and had to prepare her submission while traveling in Panama. She said the opportunity to study at Hartford Art School will fulfill a goal.

Derby resident Dan DiCenso, of the music department at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass., earned a bachelor of arts in music from College of the Holy Cross, an M.A. in music, an M.S. in education, and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in classical studies from Villanova University, and a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on medieval liturgy, with an interest in the history of Gregorian chant during the eighth and ninth centuries. He has been a member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2008.