A Seal Beach woman was among the interior design students at California State University, Long Beach, who collected scholarships recently in a competition sponsored by the Southern California chapter of the International Interior Design Association. Awards for up to $15,000 were given in recognition of outstanding student work prepared during their last academic years.
CSULB senior Sara Nelson, 24, a Seal Beach resident who will graduate from CSULB this spring, led the way for the group as the one exemplary student selected to receive the prestigious Stephanie Tar Scholarship and its $5,000 prize. Senior Thaddeus Lee followed, collecting the $5,000 first-place award for best portfolio, and fellow seniors Kelsey Kaplan and Karlie Kier tied for second place in the portfolio category, earning $2,500 each.
All four CSULB students will be celebrated and recognized at the 2014 Calibre Awards reception, dinner and program at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City on May 9.
Founded in 1995, the IIDA Southern California chapter is one of the largest with more than 800 members throughout Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Santa Barbara counties as well as the Inland and Desert Empires.
The chapter believes in the advancement of education through annual student awards, which honor student members who show potential to advance the profession.
“As a group, all 26 of the students from this class have exceeded my expectations. I taught them their first studio (junior studio) class after they were officially accepted into our BFA (bachelor of fine arts) Interior Design program,” said Dorothy Ottolia, co-coordinator of the BFA program.
To enter the competition, students first submitted online applications that included their academic standing, letter of recommendation from a teacher or professional in the design industry, a description of two to three of their projects, their design philosophy and a sample of their work. In all, some 40 students from the Southern California area applied for these scholarships.
From there, the local IIDA chapter picks 12 students to present in person to a panel of three judges two or three projects described in their online application. Each student has 10 minutes to present and another 10 minutes for a question-and-answer section. Seven of the 12 students chosen to present were from CSULB’s senior BFA interior design studio.
Winning the Tarr Scholarship, Nelson was honored for her well-rounded design excellence. For the award, students are asked to present projects that illustrate how environmental, social, technology and cultural issues are addressed in a design solution. Nelson’s thesis project caught the judges’ attention.
“I was shocked when I found out I had won the Tarr Scholarship,” said Nelson. “As I read through the email one thing stuck out to me,” she said. “The judges said that they were impressed by my involvement with my thesis community. My thesis is about creating a family center in the community of Oak View in Huntington Beach.”
“Oak View is a low income community that is full of life but often the residents are shaped by the environment,” said Nelson.
“The center would allow residents to reach their full purpose and what they have been created for. In researching the community, I was told about an opportunity to mentor fifth-graders in the community and inform them about college,” said Nelson.
“After reading what the judges said, I had to thank God,” said Nelson. “He has given me the heart to love people and love the people of Oak View.”
“I am so thankful to be a part of our senior class not only because of the talent but because of the unity we have as a class,” she said. “We see that if we work together, not against each other, everyone will succeed.”
