2 Livingston High Students Earn NJ Governors Award For Arts – Livingston, NJ Patch

LIVINGSTON, NJ — “Creativity, talent and leadership” helped a pair of young Livingston residents nab a 2020 New Jersey Governor’s Award for Arts in Education.

Recently, the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders honored Ian Hurrel, a LHS alum, and Joyce He, a current senior, for earning the award, which was launched in 1980 as a way to promote awareness and appreciation of the arts.

Each year, awards are presented to approximately 20 educators and 80 students. National and statewide organizations select the students for their exemplary work in creative writing, speech, dance, music, theatre and visual arts.

Livingston resident and freeholder at-large Patricia Sebold introduced a resolution to commend Hurrel and He, which was sponsored by the entire board.

According to the freeholders:

“Ian Hurrel graduated from Livingston High School – class of 2020. He started taking guitar lessons in 6th grade at the local music shop and in 9th grade he was accepted in the high school’s Lancer Jazz Band, where he discovered jazz for the first time. He excelled throughout high school and participated in the New Jersey All-State Jazz ensemble and the New Jersey Regional ensemble each year, and was All-Eastern his junior year. He joined the marching band, playing tenor sax, trombone and drum kit from his sophomore year to senior year. He also played guitar in the pit orchestra for Livingston High School’s yearly musicals. In the fall, he will be studying Electrical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and plans to continue independently studying and performing music.”

“Joyce He is currently a senior at Livingston High School. She is a writer whose work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the New Jersey Council of Teachers of English. Her work also appears or is forthcoming in Eunoia Review, Blue Marble Review and Bitter Melon Magazine. She will be serving as Editor-in-Chief of her school’s literary magazine in the 2020-2021 school year. In addition to writing, she is passionate about graphic design, having designed flyers, t-shirts, and brochures for several clubs and organizations. She also served as graphic designer for her school’s National Art Honor Society. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, playing the drums, and listening to music. She remains undecided in her college and career plans but would like to pursue an interdisciplinary career involving language and science.”

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