She will study Visual Arts in the School of Design and Production at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she will be in the 11th-grade.
Ward is the daughter of Cherie and Jeff Buckland of Carthage. She was previously a student at Union Pines in Cameron. Her former teachers include Cheryl Stuckey, Laureen Kirk and Robin Calcutt.
All North Carolina high school students who audition and/or interview and are accepted into the School of the Arts will now be able to study free of charge, thanks to an appropriation by the N.C. General Assembly.
“This means that aspiring young artists of our state will have the opportunity for advanced training, regardless of their ability to pay,” said NCSA Chancellor Wade Hobgood, who proposed the initiative. The state of North Carolina will pick up the full cost of attending NCSA – including tuition, fees, and room and board – for accepted students. The legislative award was effective retroactive to July 1, 2001.
Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the North Carolina School of the Arts was the first state-supported, residential performing arts school in the nation. Today, it is a leading conservatory of international renown, offering professional training for careers in the performing, visual, and film and television arts. NCSA became part of the University of North Carolina in 1972.
