Ten Students Awarded Russ Hogg Grant for Creative Expression

The Russ Hogg Grant for Creative Expression provides an opportunity for Middle and Upper School students to further their interest in creative expression and innovation in ways that fall outside the typical course offerings at Hackley. Trustee Jason ’89 and Alexandra Hogg P ’19, ’22 established this endowment to honor the life’s work of Russ Hogg, Jason’s father and a former Hackley trustee. The Hoggs’ philanthropic leadership inspired friends and family to join them in creating the endowment in Russ’s name to foster creativity and innovation in myriad forms and fields, including technology, the creative arts (performing, visual and digital), science, entrepreneurialism, global challenges and interdisciplinary inquiry.

 

Aran Basu ’25
Aran plans to travel to Indian farms to gather content for a documentary film that centers around the insights uncovered by the working songs sung by farm laborers while performing everyday tasks. Aran’s project stems from his work in Hackley’s Independent Research in History, where he questioned and researched the significance of these songs for those who sing them. His documentary would consist of recordings of songs; photographs of the region, landscape and farms; interviews with workers and farmers, as well as experts or professors in musicology; relevant “behind the scenes” content and conversations; and other important perspectives to help shape the story of these songs.

 

Vivek Malik ’25
Vivek plans to use computational data analysis and qualitative techniques to better understand more about the influx of unaccompanied minors in Westchester County post COVID-19. Using a publicly available dataset published by the Department of Health and Human Services regarding arrivals of unaccompanied minors, where they are living (and oftentimes working), and with which adults they are being sent to live, Vivek aims to perform the same quantitative analysis but on a more local scale (confined to Westchester County). He plans to use his position as a volunteer at Neighbors Link to also complete a more qualitative analysis to understand personal stories and perspectives by interviewing recent adult and child (accompanied and unaccompanied) migrants living at community houses and hotels in various locations in Westchester and beyond. He hopes to have a positive impact on resource allocation, human rights challenges and public health.

 

Jasper Quattrone ’25
Over the summer, Jasper directed and produced a short film on Cape Cod inspired by Looking for the Gulf Motel, a poem by Richard Blanco that he read in his sophomore year English class. Jasper outlined the film last year during his Independent Study for Advanced Filmmaking with Mr. Green. The film centers on a family tradition that a girl and her family had each year, visiting the Gulf Motel, and the good and bad memories that came with it. The narrator recounts these memories, all while trying to find the motel in her adulthood, knowing that it is long gone. Jasper’s project included scouting locations to film, gathering actors, creating a soundtrack, recording audio, shooting the film, and then editing the film and color grading it.

 

Isaac Ahn ’26
Isaac plans to create a free online instructional book that teaches the basics of music theory and an interactive online platform that provides guidance on vocal performance. He hopes to provide a pathway to music for children who are under-resourced, starting in the communities of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow and eventually expanding to other underserved areas in Westchester County and parts of New Jersey. He is also working with Hackley’s Director of Community Engagement and Service-Learning to plan regular in-person visits to Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow schools to provide live lessons, which will be facilitated by his already existing work with the nonprofit organization he founded called Share Your Music (www.shareyourmusicnow.com).

 

Zion Bennett ’26
Zion hopes to combine her love for cartooning with advocacy to spread the word about stress and anxiety, specifically in educational and social environments. She plans to interview her peers about their own challenges with anxiety and also will speak with mental health experts for guidance on the most effective coping mechanisms and strategies. She then plans to translate what she learns into cartoons that weave together humor, empathy and helpful tips. Her goal is to create a compilation of cartoons into a self-published book that can be distributed by school guidance counselors across New York state to help support students. She also plans to launch an Instagram account to reach a wider scope of teens.

Rohan Krishna ’26
An avid chess player since the age of 6, Rohan published a chess puzzle book of positions from games he has played that not only helps others learn and love the game as he does, but also shares the raw feelings one goes through while playing under pressure. The book includes diagrams of each position, along with detailed answers and thoughts on how Rohan felt while playing that position.

 

Mason Lee ’26
As a musician, Mason plans to explore the future of music composition in the age of artificial intelligence. He will interview composer Bruce Adolphe of the NPR show “Piano Puzzlers” about his process of composing famous tunes in the style of classical composers and compare this to AI-generated music. Mason also plans to generate compositions with the help of AI and critique them from a strict music theory perspective. He seeks to answer whether artificial intelligence can ultimately take over the composition process, or whether human creativity will still be important since creativity  typically resides in one’s own life experiences and influences sparked by inspiration.

 

Cara Minello ’26
Cara hopes to produce a student film of the play "Exposure" by Vishesh Abeyratne, which reflects on internet culture and social media cyberbullying. She plans to cast Hackley students, film mostly off campus and publicly screen the final product to the Hackley Upper School community, followed by a presentation on the dangers of social media from a speaker from the District Attorney’s office.

 

Elleana Derby ’28
Elleana will compose a song for two violins that explores the issue of gun violence in the United States over a period of several decades as compared with gun violence throughout the world during the same time period. In preparation, she will be studying composition at Larchmont Music Academy and plans to perform the piece for Middle and Upper School students this Spring.

 

Ali B. ’29
Ali will create a set of four paintings that display different scenes of Hackley, each set in a different season. Over the four separate paintings, she plans to include a banner that says, “Where the seasons tell their story.” She plans to get inspiration for the four scenes by looking through photography in the Hackley Archive.