WJA announces scholarship recipients

New York--The Women’s Jewelry Association announced late Thursday that it is giving out more than $21,000 in scholarships for the 2015-16 school year to a total of 11 students.

The scholarships went to students in trade school and college degree programs in jewelry making and design. New this year is the Female Veteran Scholarship, which was sponsored by Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co.

The recipients are as follows.

$5,000 Female Veteran Scholarship
Winner: Jenifer Bellefleur, Gemological Institute of America
Bellefleur served in the U.S. Army as an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician. After being honorably discharged, she earned a degree in law, criminology and deviance from the University of Minnesota and a master’s in leadership from Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Ten years ago, she began working in photography and jewelry and currently is a designing jeweler and studio manager in Minneapolis. She’ll use her scholarship toward her graduate jeweler diploma from GIA.

$3,500 June Herman Designer/Creator Scholarship Award
Winner: Melissa Cousins, University of Georgia
Cousins is winning the Herman award for the second year in a row. She’s majoring in jewelry and metals at UGA and plans to use her scholarship money to study advanced jewelry, art history, painting and intaglio print-making, in advance of preparation for her Bachelor of Fine Arts exit show.

$3,000 Myra Goldstein Designer/Creator Scholarship Award
Winner: Susan Thornton, New Approach School for Jewelers
Thornton is the owner of Thornton Metals Studio in Watertown, Tenn. and will use her scholarship money to study stone setting and fabrication at the New Approach School, a trade school in Franklin, Tenn. that teaches practical bench skills.

$2,000 Marilyn DaSilva Designer/Creator Scholarship Award
Winner: Hannah Hash, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Hash is in her final year at SCAD and will use her scholarship to study accessory design and business skills, toward earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in jewelry.

Winner: Kim Hung Chea, GIA
Influenced by her aunt, who has a jewelry shop in Cambodia, Chea has taken classes at Pasadena City College in drawing, rendering, product design and painting and now will study jewelry design at GIA.

$1,000 Designer/Creator Scholarship
Winner: Emily Culver, Cranbrook Academy of Art
Culver graduated from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and now is pursuing a master’s in jewelry at Cranbrook, which is located in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Winner: Haiyin Liang, Colorado State University
Liang is majoring