CAPE TEEN WINS ARTS SCHOLARSHIP; FELKER TO ATTEND CALIFORNIA STATE SUMMER SCHOOL FOR ARTS

Her first role was at age 9 when she was the paper boy in "Our Town."

Numerous community theater and school productions later, Shannon Felker of Cape Girardeau has been designated by California Gov. Pete Wilson as a California Arts Scholar.

The honor is considered the highest distinction in California for artistically talented students. It is given to 85 students from public and private secondary schools who have been selected to attend the California State Summer School for the Arts held in Valencia. Of the 85, only 20 can be from out of state.

Criterion for selection and admission is based upon the applicant's potential for professional development as demonstrated through audition, portfolio review, screening and teacher recommendations.

For Felker's audition, her mother, Susie, set up a camcorder in their kitchen and taped Felker reciting a one-minute monologue entitled "The Frog."

The tape's lack of professionalism is one of the reasons Felker and her mother were so shocked when the letter of acceptance came May 1. Felker had even sent in the $3,000 tuition for another high school preparatory acting program at Walnut Hill School in Natick, Mass.

Felker has attended other programs, even those where many celebrities like Meatloaf send their children, but she applied to the California and Walnut Hill schools because the criteria for selection required more than an application.

"We decided that with the additional audition process, these programs would be more prestigious and look better on a college resume," Susie Felker said.

Even though Felker has selected to attend the Walnut Hill Summer Theater School, both programs would have taken her one step further in reaching her dream, to become a drama teacher.

Like she explained in her entry essay for the CSSSA, "The program will give me a better understanding of who I am as an actress," she said.

Susie Felker admits she and her husband are the ones who pushed Felker to apply to the more prestigious acting programs. She has confidence in her daughter's talent, but she realizes that isn't enough.

"She is a good actress, but there is a way to go," Susie Felker said. "Like her brother who is an actor says, `There is a lot of people with talent, and they're waiting tables.'"