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Graduate Student Council

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Graduate Student Council

The Graduate Student Council (GSC) advocates for the needs of graduate and professional students at UNCSA and connects students academically and socially within and across disciplines. The Graduate Student Council is part of UNCSA's Student Government Association and its president reports to and maintains a close relationship with the Student Body President.

Eden Kinsey

2024-25 Graduate Council President Eden Kinsey

 

From Fayetteville, North Carolina and spanning across multiple states due to her military family. Eden will be a rising third year graduate student in Production & Project Management within the School of Design & Production. She is a proud Puerto Rican with a BA from Appalachian State University in General Theatre and went on to work as an Actress & Stage Manager for two years before pursuing her MFA. Eden is passionate about advocating for all student voices and experiences, she will be writing her Thesis on ADA needs while diligently preparing for her career outside of UNCSA and into the broader entertainment world. She is happy to be a resource/stepping stone for all students at UNCSA - connecting everyone with beneficial offices around campus and working hard to be a voice that represents the wider graduate population while connecting UNCSA to the Winston-Salem community. In her two years at UNCSA, she has worked on 6 different productions and is moving on to work on 4 in her third year as well as Managing the Production & Project Management office.

Nico McLaurin

2024-25 Graduate Council Vice President Nico McLaurin

 

Nico McLaurin, a musician who plays with “palpable excitement and a warm, clear tone” (CVNC: The Cultural Voice of North Carolina), is a classically trained trumpet player performing on orchestral, recital, and chamber music stages. In high school, he played professionally with the Triangle Youth Brass Band as a solo cornet in the J. Perry Watson Brass Band. During his undergraduate studies under Jim Ketch, Tim Hudson, and Paul Neebe at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nico had the pleasure of performing as a soloist with the UNC-Chapel Hill Wind Ensemble after winning the Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition. In addition, Nico auditioned and competed with renowned DCI drum corps Carolina Crown for both the ’19-’20 and ’20-’21 seasons. As his music career has grown, Nico strives to influence the trumpet performance landscape by showcasing new and unexplored composers, especially for British brass bands. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts studying under David Dash.

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Executive Team
School of Music
Samuel Santiago
Samuel Santiago
Secretary & Treasurer
Samuel Santiago is a young Cuban Trumpet musician that uses his heritage and background with piano to shape his unique musical phrasing that adds a refreshing touch on the classics of trumpet repertoire. Born into a musical family with his parents, award winning pianists, and his sister, a professional operatic soprano, he began his musical journey. From the age of 4, Samuel started learning piano with his mother as his instructor. He switched instruments from piano to trumpet at the age of 9 studying under Dr. Scott Lawrence, son of famous jazz saxophonist Arnie Lawrence. Since then, Samuel has developed his personal musical ideas and passions that drove him to pursue competitions and a further education in music. He has performed with notable professional groups such as the “Pershings own Army Orchestra” and has performed the trumpet concerto by Alexander Arutunian as a soloist with the Montgomery Orchestra. He has placed in the renown International trumpet competition with famous adjudicators such as David Bilger. Samuel has a Bachelors in music performance from the Eastman School of Music studying under the esteemed James Thompson. He is currently pursuing a masters in music from the University of North Carolina School of The Arts under David Dash, the current acting associate principal trumpet of the North Carolina Symphony. Samuel is a current member of Watson Brass and Bergstone Brass. Through his performing, Samuel aspires to completely reshape the trumpet world with his passionate views of musical phrasing and lyricism.
School of Filmmaking
Sahiti Satish
Sahiti Satish
Media Manager
From the age of way-too-young, I have always had a special relationship with films. I remember being the only 4 year old to walk out of the cinema hall with my parents instead of being carried in their arms, asleep. Born in India, raised in New Jersey, growing up in Mumbai, and now an MFA student at UNCSA, I have a unique blend of cultures that give me a deeper understanding of my industry. I completed my Undergraduate in Mumbai with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Media, majoring in Advertising. Using my command over language and short-form writing, I worked as a Creative Strategist and Copywriter for 2 years, while also keeping my passion for films alive by making short films in my free time. This is the foundation of the skills I will use to make our digital presence informative & engaging (while not compromising on a sense of humor) to reach existing and future Grad students!
School of Design & Production
Sophie Frances Block
Sophie Frances Block
Design & Production Representative
This Fall, I will be headed into my third year as a Scenic Art MFA Candidate at UNCSA. I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and finished my BFA in Theatre Arts and minor in Art History at Southern Oregon University in 2019. From 2019 to 2022 I worked as the Scenic Charge Artist at The University of Oklahoma. I am incredibly passionate about theatre education and teaching others about the niche art that we create within Design and Production. I believe that my past experience in academia will lend itself well to a position with the Graduate Student Council. This past year, I have worked as the Paint Shop Steward, managing our shop and the scenery that travels through it. In doing this work, I have been able to collaborate with many different areas inside of D&P and wish to represent them and make their voices heard.
School of Filmmaking
Ava Provolo
Ava Provolo
Filmmaking Representative
Ava is an MFA Screenwriting student, with a particular focus on writing comedy television. She has come to television writing somewhat unorthodoxically. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish from Mount Holyoke College. In her tenure there, she taught herself screenwriting: she wrote two pilots (and created a show bible), and when her professors allowed her to, she wrote short films in lieu of essays. She believes the way she has come to screenwriting is a unique strength; her liberal arts education has provided her with cultural competency, a developed understanding of history, and an unparalleled ambition. This is all to say that television has made her a more confident writer. She revels in watching her favorite shows - The Righteous Gemstones, Derry Girls, Tuca & Bertie, to name but a few - because their brilliance brings her closer to herself. She feels seen and heard in their use of comedy to highlight the complexities of the human experience, which is her principal aim in everything she writes.
School of Music
Cydney Williams
Amanda Friedman
Music Representative

Born in Jacksonville Florida, Amanda Friedman is an up and coming horn player who particularly enjoys performing romantic style music due to its expansive and emotional nature. Most importantly, Amanda is passionate about sharing her love for beautiful horn playing and introducing people to the wondrous and inspiring characteristics of music. According to Peter Perret from CVNC, “Notably, Amanda Friedman played the famous second movement horn solo with tenderness and expression to bring a tear to the eye!” She has collaborated with notable professionals, such as Peter Kurau, James Thompson, and Øystein Baadsvik.

Amanda began her musical studies at age nine playing french horn and quickly discovered a passion for performance with the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra only 3 years after beginning to play horn. During her bachelor of music studies at Eastman School of Music, Amanda performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as a part of a premier of a piece composed by Jeff Beal, and also as a member of the Eastman Faculty Octet. In North Carolina, Amanda is performing as a substitute with multiple orchestras in the area including the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, and the Salisbury Symphony. She also performs as a fellow with the Piedmont Wind Symphony. Amanda is continuing her studies as a graduate student at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.