The Department of Visual and Performing Arts has announced its student award and scholarship recipients. Each year, a nomination and selection process is conducted by VPA faculty and staff with input from department students to identify outstanding student achievement. Below is a list of recognized students.
Student of Promise Award: Allison Lewis
Allison is a third-year Theatre and Entertainment Technology major with an Art Minor. She enjoys painting and has worked on the McArdle lobby mural, Glass Menagerie, and Sweeney Todd. Allison has also done carpentry and assisted with design for productions during her time at Tech.
She enjoys music, spending time in the sun, and spending time with friends in her free time.
Art Award: Jayden Palarz
Jayden Palarz is a sound design and music composition student at Michigan Tech. With a drive to create and a long list of passions, he is a multi-instrumentalist with a focus on cello and guitar.
You can find him in the recording studio capturing local music, or wherever the music lives.
Music Award: Samuel Kalkman
Sam Kalkman is a Computer Science and Statistics major who graduates this Spring.
He has played vibraphone and keys in the Tech jazz program starting in his first year in 2021 in ensembles such as the Jazz Lab Band, Jaztec, and the VGM Ensemble.
Since 2022, he has helped to lead the VGM Ensemble through leading rehearsals, creating arrangements, and planning events, but he now hands the reins of the band off to the next up-and-coming musicians.
Heading back to his home in Minnesota, he hopes to apply the skills he learned at MTU to his work and personal life.
Outside of academics and music, he enjoys collaborative storytelling and thinks that birds are pretty neat.
Sound Award: Amelia Creamer
Amelia is a fourth year majoring in Audio Production and Technology, and is set to graduate in December of 2025. She has spent her last three years at the university working within the Media Technology Services Department, along with taking on the Lead Student Broadcast Engineer role for all athletic events that take place at the Student Development Complex on campus.
She has prioritized spending her summers in Houghton, considering the rich music life that is ever present here in the Keweenaw such as Bridgefest, Bash at the Bay, Summer Slam, and Farm Block. It has allowed her to grow not only as an individual who loves to participate in the art, but also as a professional live mixer for these events that take place around the area.
Amelia has learned an incredible amount from the VPA department. She is forever grateful for receiving this award, considering she could not have done it without her peers and professors. She wishes everyone she has had the opportunity to work with the very best in their next endeavors.
Theatre Award: Anne-Marie Latourette
Anne-Marie Latourette is a senior at Michigan Technological University graduating this spring with a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Entertainment Technology. While there, she has worked as a Light Board Programmer and Operator for Sweeney Todd, Light Board Operator for Anatomy of Gray, Master Electrician/Light Board Operator for Purple Hearts, Spotlight Operator for Chess, and Wardrobe Supervisor for The Glass Menagerie. She has aspirations to become a Light Board Programmer in the future.
She would like to thank her family, friends, and professors for supporting her on her journey in theatre.
All Arts Award : Jos Olson
Jos just finished his third year at Tech as an Audio Production and Technology Major. He is honored to receive both the All Arts Award and the Departmental Scholar Award. This year, he held many different roles, ranging from Production Manager on the Haunted Hoist House and Threading Empathy, to Carpenter for Sweeney Todd, and of course, Sound System Designer for The Glass Menagerie.
Jos is an an active member of SoundGirls, as he served as Vice President this past year, and will be serving as President next year.
Jos is also an advocate for mental health awareness, hoping that his openness inspires others to not feel ashamed for their pasts and what they have gone through.
Irish Award for Environmental Art: Paige McKean
Paige McKean is an environmental engineering student with a minor in art graduating Spring 2025.
They are an environmental activist. Some of the organizations they participate in across campus include Keweenaw Youth for Climate Action (KYCA) and Green Campus Enterprise.
Milt Olsson Music Award: Katherine Rauscher
Katherine Rauscher is a third year Mechanical Engineering student who has been constantly involved in music throughout her time at Michigan Tech by singing in conScience, playing her French Horn with the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, stepping in as a vocal soloist with the Superior Wind Symphony, and dutifully taking private voice lessons.
You may also recognize her from her most recent performance as Johanna in Michigan Tech Theatre’s production of Sweeney Todd.
When not singing, playing, or studying, Katherine enjoys participating in the Multiplanetary INnovation Enterprise (MINE), chairing the Mechanical Engineering Student Advisory Committee, and working as a Resident Assistant.
