Our Scholars

Will Conrad is a first-year student from Amesbury, Massachusetts pursuing Computer Science and Drama, finding the intersection of both to be deeply fascinating and full of potential. Outside of the classroom, Will has spent the past 7 years finding his home in the theatre working in lighting design, having been recognized for his designs at the competitive state level. Since coming to UVA, Will has found his family in student theatre groups like First Year Players and Virginia Players. Will hopes to pursue higher education in theatre production and is eager to work in professional theatre and explore the bleeding edge of theatre technology, with a dream to design a Broadway or off Broadway production. He is beyond honored to have been chosen to be a part of the Miller Arts Scholars community and is eager to learn from his peers and professors and grow as a theatrical artist.

Carson Harter is from Oakton, Virginia. Carson is currently an undergraduate student in the College of Arts & Science, hoping to double major in Drama and Commerce. All his life, Carson has had a deep passion for theatre, and everything that it encompasses. Having spent time in every niche of theatre, from producer to actor to designer, he has yet to find a part of theatre that he does not love.

At UVA, Carson has become a member of many theatre communities around Grounds, including acting in the Drama Department and First Year Player shows, assistant stage managing for First Year Players, and being a costume tech with Spectrum Theatre. At heart, Carson is a lover of all things arts. He is honored to be a Miller Arts Scholar, and is excited to explore all things art here at UVA!

Marlena James is from Dunwoody Georgia and has been involved in the arts for majority of her life. She began dancing at the age of two training in all styles including jazz, tap, lyrical, ballet, and modern. Further in her life, she joined the company of the Atlanta Jazz Theatre. There, she was involved in competitive dance for many years, where she placed in the top ten overalls several times. So far, she has been very involved in dance at the University of Virginia, taking part in the Virginia Dance Company and Virginia Dance Committee. She is looking into being a dance minor and is excited to be a Miller Arts Scholar.

Alicia Kesting-Kim is from Biarritz, France and she is planning on majoring in politics with a focus on foreign affairs and minoring in dance. Alicia has been a dancer her entire life and she explored different styles like ballet, hip-hop, modern jazz before finding her place through contemporary dance. In 2020 she auditioned and was selected by the French National Conservatory, a highly regarded art institute in France. After three years of training with amazing choreographers and professors she received a dance diploma. Since being at the University of Virginia, Alicia has been played an active role in the dance community. She is a choreographer and dancer for the University Dance Club and is a member of the Virginia Dance Committee. Alicia is honored to be a part of the Miller Arts Scholars and is excited to work with other artists.

Born and raised in Virginia Beach, VA, Riley LeBlanc plans to double major in English and Studio Art with a concentration in cinematography. She hopes to pursue screenwriting after college and has plans to explore filmmaking while at UVA. Having been a dancer her whole life, she's always had a love for the arts and the arts community, but her true passion is writing, which she explores through writing short stories and reading extensively. At Virginia, she continues to perfect her craft with creative/fiction writing classes and contributes to the arts community as a dancer in Rhapsody Ballet Ensemble. She's honored to be a part of the Miller Arts Scholars Program and is looking forward to learning from her fellow classmates.

Xingchen is an astrophotographer and cinematographer pursuing an Echols interdisciplinary major and a minor in Film. Having spent his childhood between San Marino, California, and Beijing, China, Xingchen has long held an interest in cultural diaspora, globalism, and the notion of nostalgia. This interest guides his gaze upward to what transcends all humanity — the stars, nebulae, and galaxies. Nostalgia has also endowed him with the ability to perceive the intricacies of the world, which he hopes to use to break down cultural barriers and foster mutual understanding. He believes that beyond nostalgia and the barriers of time and space, it is art that connects us all. He is immensely honored and grateful to be a member of the Miller Arts program, and is eager to collaborate with his fellow distinguished artists.

Elizabeth Mayhood is from Charlottesville, Virginia, where she began playing flute at 11 years old. In high school, she participated in the wind ensemble and pit orchestra on flute and piccolo. In her marching band, she was the piccolo section leader and woodwind hornline captain during her senior year. She participated in All-Districts and All-State bands, and she won the Charlottesville Band James W. Simmons Solo Competition in 2023. At UVA, she is continuing her studies under Dr. Kelly Sulick and plays in the Charlottesville Symphony, Cavalier Marching Band, UVA Flute Ensemble, and Basketball Band. Elizabeth is thrilled to be an Arts Scholar, and she is hoping to increase her experience in music and the arts in general.

My name is Tracy Echais! I’m from Falls Church, Virginia, and am currently a second year in the College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in Studio Art with a concentration in painting. My love for art has been with me ever since I was a child. From elementary to high school, I’ve always taken art classes, honing my skills and techniques. My main medium is acrylic paint, but I’ve explored many other mediums that it’s hard to choose a favorite. My passion for art began with my family who showed me what art can be and what it can express. With the support of my art teacher during my senior year of high school, I won my first-ever gold key in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. It made me realize that art meant much more to me than just a hobby. After much consideration, I decided to take art more seriously and applied to college with an interest in becoming an art major. Outside of my studies, I’m an active member of the UVA Wushu club where I have fun preparing for performances, including martial arts. Being an art student at UVA has been such a fun experience and a challenge, it has pushed me to become a better artist and thinker. I’m honored and excited to join the Miller Arts community with fellow students who share the same passion and goal as I do!

Grace Heinzelmann is from Vienna, VA, and is a pre-med student majoring in psychology and minoring in studio art. She has been engaged in the arts since childhood and has a particular interest in sculpture and 3D media. She is interested in the intersection of psychology and art and thus makes pieces that seek to explore what reactions and behaviors her work can elicit, almost like social experiments. She has created a plethora of unusual pieces, such as dresses made from newspapers, an interactive room where participants could do whatever they wanted to the walls, and a confessional with the priest replaced by a serpent. Grace is the secretary of the UVA Ceramics Club and has also participated in performances by the UVA Salsa Club and the Organization of Young Filipino Americans. Grace is excited about the opportunities that the Miller Arts Scholars program will bring and is honored to be joining the community.

Jack Ireland is a composer, arranger, producer, instrumentalist, and actor from Richmond, Virginia. He is majoring in Music and Drama with an intended minor in Leadership. Jack initially turned away from music when his parents got piano lessons for him and his brothers in 2014, but he eventually taught himself how to play in his own time. Growing up, Jack fell in love with video game music and started arranging, remixing, and producing songs from his favorite games in 2018 under the alias Snivys. Since then, Jack has composed, arranged, produced, recorded, and released over 150 songs on his YouTube channel, with a handful of them being distributed to streaming platforms in the form of five albums which have amassed over 3 million streams on Spotify. Beyond Snivys, Jack enjoys acting on stage and was fortunate enough to play Horace Vandergelder in Hello, Dolly! and Edward Bloom in Big Fish for First Year Players last academic year, where he currently serves as a Social Chair and a Vocal Director for Legally Blonde. Since coming to UVA, Jack has jumped into as many artistic side quests as he can, including composing music for short films, performing original music at acoustic shows, performing improv comedy in the Whethermen, and playing with the Christ Episcopal Church worship music team. Jack is more than honored to be a part of the Miller Arts Scholars community and is excited to collaborate with other passionate artists!

Simone Marijic Buljubasic is a musician from Los Angeles, California. Since starting choir and piano classes at age five, she has developed a passion for music and voice, specifically in the classical and musical theater genres. Through the National Children’s Chorus, Simone has had the incredible opportunity to work directly with prominent composers, conductors, and performers including Eric Whitacre, Caroline Polachek, Gustavo Dudamel, and Meredith Monk. She has sung in prominent concert halls including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. In 2019, she was part of a Walt Disney Concert Hall performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 that received two GRAMMY wins for Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Engineered Album. Simone has performed in over ten theater productions and served as President of her high school’s Conservatory Arts Program. Currently, she is an active member of the Virginia Belles a capella group and Usingers on grounds and continues to cultivate her interests in vocal performance and songwriting. Simone is beyond honored and excited to join the Miller Arts Scholar community.

Maxwell Mitchell is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer from Milton, Massachusetts. He is currently double majoring in Music and Economics with a minor in Entrepreneurship. Maxwell has written songs since he started playing guitar at age 8. He performed covers and originals with his hometown band, Victorian Breakfast, but when COVID happened, Maxwell turned to music production as a new creative outlet. He soon fell in love with the process, and since then, has produced and distributed over four albums’ worth of original music on all streaming platforms. Maxwell was ecstatic to meet many other students at UVA as passionate about music as himself, and currently sings and plays guitar for the band Krispies. Maxwell is honored to be part of the Miller Arts Scholars community and is excited to continue working collaboratively on future music projects

Kailash Patel is an Electrical Engineering and Music double major from Reston, Virginia. He has explored various forms of music since childhood, including the violin, which he continues to pursue at UVA. Prior to UVA, he moved through the ranks of the Loudoun Symphony Youth Orchestra eventually becoming concertmaster. He also participated in his high school’s orchestra, achieving regional honors, becoming a leadership council member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society, and conducting the orchestra in his final concert. At UVA, he studies violin with Prof. Daniel Sender and performs with the Charlottesville Symphony. Outside of violin, he is pursuing a music major with a concentration in composition and computer technology in the hopes of integrating his skills in electrical engineering, including signal processing and hardware/software design in the context of music. He is currently focused on composing and producing electronic music using digital audio workstations as well as working with acoustic recording equipment. He is also a student representative for the Charlottesville Symphony Player’s Committee and happily organizes events for Sender Studio. Outside of UVA, he thoroughly enjoys studying paleontology and a good soccer match. He is thrilled and honored to be a Miller Arts Scholar and is privileged to contribute to the arts community in turn.

Reese Robers is from Roanoke, Virginia and plans to double-major in Media Studies and Studio Art with a concentration in Cinematography and Filmmaking. She has been making art for as long as she can remember but has recently taken a particular interest in the art of filmmaking, where she has worked on over ten short films in the past few years. Her short films have screened in film festivals such as LA Shorts International Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival, and STUFFit International Film Festival. Reese finds the inherently collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of film to be fascinating, and she values the role of community throughout all stages of a film’s production. In addition, she loves to explore unconventional and experimental media and artwork across all disciplines. Reese is honored to be a part of the Miller Arts Scholars Program and is very much looking forward to building a community of artists across many different backgrounds and disciplines!

Xander Tilock is an actor, director, and writer from Falls Church, Virginia. He has participated in 36 full-length productions since 2015 with multiple groups including the Guthrie Theater, Harvard University, Northwestern University, and others. Xander has loved theatre his entire life --- he is a Drama and Media Studies major at UVA. Some of his favorite productions include Frozen Jr. (Hans), Robin Hood (Robin Hood), and A Winter Star (Director and Playwright). In high school, Xander won six gold medals in the categories of serious duo and humorous duo in VHSL Forensics competitions. He is currently the Community Chair of the Virginia Players Executive Team as well as the PR Director for Miller Arts Scholars. Xander is honored to be a part of the Miller Arts Scholars community and is looking forward to continuing to share his passion for the arts with the UVA community.

John Barnes is a filmmaker, songwriter, and actor from Arlington, VA. He has been interested in filmmaking ever since he could edit videos using the iMovie trailer templates on his family's desktop computer.  As a sixth-grader, he presented a presentation and petition at a school board meeting to support funding for a middle school film class, which he was able to take the following year. In recent years, John has completed two fellowships with PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs (SRL). He wrote, produced, shot, and edited the explainer video "How Students Are Fighting Zoom Fatigue", which aired live on PBS NewsHour and was published on its digital platforms.  He also co-edited and starred in the piece “Alone Together,” a piece for SRL about teens during the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, John is working on a web series pilot for PBS NewsHour on teen mental health issues, with the first episode focusing on music and mood. For his work at PBS, John was named a 20-under-20 storyteller and received the Best Health Video Award from SRL. John has also written and directed films across many genres, including the dramedy COME TO THE BEACH, the documentary A Passover Story, and the comedy The Case of the Unacademic Integrity. His films have also won many awards, including a Merit Award from the National YoungArts Foundation, a Silver Medal from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and a Best Documentary Nomination at the All American High School Film Festival. 

Jesper Braley is a character designer and animator who has loved art since his first introduction to a studio setting: during the fourth grade in his hometown of Vienna, Virginia. However, he only recently realized exactly how deep this passion runs. Jesper’s artistic practice began with a heavy focus on technique and still-lifes. As he gained confidence in the more technical aspects of drawing, he became more and more interested in using his skills to create stories and characters. In the future, Jesper hopes to work on an animated show like the ones that most inspire him, most notably among these The Owl House by Dana Terrace. The summer of 2022, Jesper spent a month immersing himself in the art world via the CalArts program called High-Touch Animation. There, he created comics, designed characters, and learned how to storyboard and pitch his own animated series. All throughout, students received feedback from professors who had worked on industry hits such as Toy Story, Bug’s Life, and Futurama. Only after experiencing such a rich creative environment did Jesper realize that art is something he wants to pursue a serious career in. As a result, he has been on the lookout for more opportunities to connect with other creatives, finally leading him here: to the Miller Arts Scholars community. Long story short, Jesper is beyond honored and excited to be here.

Hunter Colson is a musician and composer from Washington, D.C. with plans to major in Music. Hunter’s love of artistic expression has been with him his whole life and started with drawing. Raised listening to primarily classical music, he began guitar lessons at age six and piano lessons at seven. In middle school Hunter played clarinet in the school band. After trying to express himself with these instruments, he felt that something was missing. It was the summer before starting at UVA that Hunter finally discovered his passion for composition when he took music theory and composed some of his first pieces. This proved to be a satisfying culmination of all his previous musical experience. Hunter has not stopped composing since. At UVA Hunter is a member of the Radio Music Society and enjoys being part of the UVA Catalyst Program. Hunter is honored to be a Miller Arts Scholar and is excited to continue growing as a musician and composer while taking advantage of the opportunities the Miller Arts Scholars will provide.

Ava is a visual artist studying Commerce and Studio Art. She spent her childhood with a sketchbook in tow and paint on her clothes. Creating art has made her life vibrant and she enjoys sharing art’s benefits with others. As an assistant art teacher in high school and now as an Early Visions mentor at UVA, she loves watching smiles light up children’s faces when they discover the beauty they are capable of creating. She is also a weekly volunteer at Ix Art Park, a non-profit in downtown Charlottesville whose mission is to empower the community through creativity. Through experiences like these and her studies at UVA, she is exploring how to combine business and art to scale art’s positive impact and inspire people to create, collaborate, and flourish. As a Miller Arts Scholar, she is excited to engage with and learn alongside other students also pursuing their art with purpose and passion.

Katherine (Katie) Haines is an Echols Scholar pursuing majors in Archaeology and Biology and a minor in Drama. Originally from Williamsburg, Virginia, Katie has long had the support of her family, especially her parents and her uncle, in her exploration of the performance arts. Katie started actively pursuing theatre at Walsingham Academy with the help of her teachers and directors.  Katie performed in ten mainstage productions there; favorite roles include Doris Walker in Miracle on 34th Street and choreographer Andi Lee in 42nd Street, in which she also served as dance captain.  Katie also competed on the Walsingham Academy Forensics Team and views her experiences and wins competing in the Peninsula Forensics League as critical to her continued successes at UVA. Although her primary area of study is acting, Katie views performance as an inherently interdisciplinary act, so she also has studied voice, violin, and dance. Katie has continued to focus on Shakespearean performance, through the American Shakespeare Center’s Youth Camp, Shakespeare on the Lawn, and UVA Drama productions. Since she arrived at UVA, she has found a home in the drama community. As a Miller Arts Scholar, Katie seeks to broaden her study of theatrical performance and bridge disciplines and mediums. She is beyond honored to be a member of this distinguished group of artists. 

Deneishia Haralson is a kinesiology major and dance minor from Manassas, Virginia. Her dance career started at the age of four and she has danced at Dance Etc. School of the Arts in Virginia for the past 14 years where she studied ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, and contemporary. She has enjoyed performing in annual winter and spring concerts and being featured in many dances put on by her studio. She has also danced in performances throughout her community such as with the New Dominion Choraliers and more recently, she choreographed a solo for a Black History Month performance. She has danced in the Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington, D.C., with the Junior All-Stars Washington Red Skins Team, and at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. Deneishia has also attended dance summer intensives across the country such as the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, in Los Angeles California, and the Alvin Ailey School summer intensive in the Professional Division, in New York. Deneishia is currently a member of the Virginia Dance Company (DCO) and the Outreach Chairperson for the UVA dance committee. She is elated and honored to be able to be a Miller Arts Scholar and she cannot wait to partner with other scholars across the arts to expand her dancing artistry and explore her untouched creative layers.

Abby Kim grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia and has been playing the violin since she was 5. Before coming to UVA, she participated in many local ensembles such as the Evans Orchestra, Albemarle String Ensemble, and Youth Orchestra of Central Virginia. She is also a member of the Albemarle Chamber Players, a student-lead trio who has performed at numerous weddings and other events. In addition, she auditioned for and was accepted into Senior Regional Orchestra, Virginia All-State Orchestra, and also participated in GSIM (Global Summer Institute of Music) at VCU two summers in a row. She was also awarded the 1st place prize for the Wednesday Music Club Competition (Senior Category) in her senior year. At UVA, Abby is double majoring in Music (and prospectively CS) and is continuing to foster her love for the violin through participation in the Charlottesville Symphony, chamber ensembles, and privatelessons under Professor Daniel Sender. Abby is honored to be a Miller Arts Scholar and is excited to grow as a musician alongside other passionate artists. 

Jolinna is a Studio Art student at the University of Virginia concentrating in Cinematography. With experience in working with both traditional film and HD cameras, Jolinna likes exploring realism, cultural identity, relationship dynamics, and love in her work. Films she has worked on have been selected by the Virginia Film Festival and screened at the McGuffey Art center. She has also been involved in the Adrenaline project and works with Lighthouse Studios as a freelance editor. Other than video, Jolinna also enjoys creative writing and is also a prospective English Major.

Grace Sellers is a Studio Art major from Bluemont, VA. Grace discovered her passion for studio art after taking art classes at UVA. While she recently discovered her love for studio art, art has been a part of her life for a long time. She grew up dancing and attended a pre-professional ballet program at an arts high school where she was surrounded by a diverse group of artists. Now, she is exploring different methods of art making. In particular, she is interested in printmaking. Grace is looking forward to meeting other artists and can’t wait to immerse herself in all that the Miller Arts Scholars Program has to offer.

Julia Totten is a Biochemistry and Music major on the pre-med track from Jamestown, Rhode Island. She started playing the flute at 10 years old and has been heavily involved in the arts throughout her entire life.  Before coming to UVA, Julia participated in numerous ensembles such as the Rhode Island All-State Band, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the Southern New England Honors Band, and the John Philip Sousa National High School Honors Band. She participated in solo and ensemble festivals for 8 years and received numerous superior rankings. She was the first chair flutist of her high school band and was deeply involved in the music program at her school, playing in the pit orchestra for the school’s musical theater productions. Julia greatly appreciates the warm and fulfilling community that being a musician provides. In addition to playing, she loves spending her free time listening to all forms of music. At UVA, Julia studies flute under her private instructor Professor Kelly Sulick and is a member of the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra. Julia is honored to be a Miller Arts Scholar and is excited to become an even more involved member of the larger arts community at UVA.