As an Arts and Culture Commissioner for the City of Gilroy, I look forward to the enthusiastic interaction of commissioners and student representatives at monthly meetings. For the past two years, Julianna Vanni has represented Christopher High School, reporting the school’s art activities with enthusiasm and passion.
This gifted young lady was first introduced to art by her mother in the form of modeling clay. As a child, Vanni was plagued with a stomach ailment that required month-long bouts of hospitalization from the age of 7 months to 6 years. To help her child pass the time, Vanni’s mother brought clay to the hospital. Vanni took to it immediately and loved to manipulate the clay into sculptures, never tiring of the opportunity to create. At 6 years old, Vanni’s ailment was corrected with nissen fundoplication surgery, but her love of creating with her hands continued and grew into a passion for art.
Born in Morgan Hill, Vanni moved to Gilroy when she was 3 years old. She went to Pacific West Christian Academy and Monte Vista Christian School. During her sophomore year, she transferred to Gilroy’s newly opened Christopher High School and will graduate with her class in June.
At CHS, Vanni met artist Carol Peters, who quickly became her role model. Peters recognized the young woman’s leadership qualities and invited her to become the Arts and Culture Commission student representative, encouraging her to work on her speaking skills. Vanni feels that her tenure on the commission helped form who she is today: a confident speaker who is comfortable interacting with adults. These skills and her sense of commitment will help carry her through college and beyond. She hopes to follow in Peter’s footsteps, making a positive difference in the community.
Vanni’s other role model is Linda Pulido, a martial arts instructor. Vanni attends taekwondo classes twice a week and speaks highly of Pulido.
“The fire in Linda’s eyes has motivated me and inspired me to be positive and complete the task,” Vanni said.
Vanni is well on her way to becoming a role model herself. In her junior year at CHS, she collected statistics on the homeless in Gilroy as part of a class project. With her mother in tow, she interviewed homeless people in the community. Vanni was taken with the situations she found, noting that clothing was a common need.
She also had two sisters who went away to college and left perfectly good clothes behind. With her mother’s encouragement, Vanni obtained permission from her school to open Cooper’s Closet, a co-ed warehouse of used clothing free to students. With the help of her mother and members of South Valley Community Church, clothes – including her sisters’ discards – were collected and organized in a freshly painted closet on the school’s campus.
Cooper’s Closet officially opened Sept. 16 and welcomes all students for one hour each week. Clean, donated clothing (no underwear) can be dropped off at the office during school hours. Vanni and two assistants spend two to three hours a week organizing the clothing. Next year’s president, Phoung Cao, has been trained and Vanni hopes the project will still be going strong 50 years from now.
Vanni was recently awarded the Best Digital Media Award for a piece of artwork she submitted to the 2012 Congressional Art Competition. Part of a mural created in her school’s digital lab, the piece will be printed out and attached to a wall of Building A at CHS.
“Arts is essential in your life,” Vanni said. “It is a vitamin that is needed to keep your mind fresh. Art is like another limb on my body. It is there for life, it is who I am.”
Vanni will major in biochemistry in the fall and hopes to go to UC San Francisco graduate school for dentistry.
Why dentistry?
“I like helping people and I don’t want to lose my art,” she said. “A dentist also has to have patience and stay focused. It fits my personality.”
