The Board of Directors of the Suffolk Art League has announced winners of the 2015-16 Sharon Picot and Chip Picot Memorial student scholarships.

“As is always the case, the selection committee had a difficult job determining who would receive funding,” said Linda Bunch, executive director. “All of the applicants seemed very dedicated to their art.” The scholarship selection committee chose six students to receive a total of $2,000 to be used for their artistic endeavors.

The Picot Memorial Scholarship is offered to students who will be in grades 6 to 12 in the next school year. Students must either live in or attend school in Suffolk. Public, private and home-school students are eligible to receive funding.

“We want to help them begin or continue to explore the artistic area of their choice whether visual, performing or literary art,” Bunch said. “These scholarships will help these students attend classes and intensive workshops and purchase needed materials.”

Following are the recipients for 2015-2016 are:

• Anntorian Powell-Holland, a student at Mack Benn Elementary School. She will use her scholarship funds to attend art classes and purchase art materials.

“My favorite thing about teaching Anntorian is that she is always making her art,” said Lydia Dommel in her recommendation letter. “She has her own style and does amazing work.”

• Cree Diggs-Brown, a student at John Yeates Middle School. She planned to use her funding to participate in an Honors Performance Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in June.

“I will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play the cello at Carnegie Hall along with other middle school students from around the United States and Canada,” said Diggs-Brown in her essay. Her orchestra director, Linda Hurwitz believes Cree “has a gift, especially for the classical repertoire.”

• Heather Eichman of John Yeates Middle School. She will use her Picot Scholarship funding to take visual art lessons and purchase art materials.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed exploring many ways of drawing and painting,” Eichman wrote in her essay. “I really hope to continue my visual arts education this year. I’m undecided about my exact career path, but many jobs utilize artistic skills in various ways.”

• Jaylon Hayes-Keller, a student at John Yeates Middle School, who will also use his funding to get to Carnegie Hall.

“One of my life goals is to play at Carnegie Hall,” Hayes-Keller wrote. Along with his viola studies with Ms. Hurwitz at Yeates, Jaylon takes private lessons and has been accepted to attend the Governor’s School for the Arts in the fall.

• Brexdyn La Dieu, a student at King’s Fork High School and the Governor’s School for the Arts. He also studies dance at Maureen’s School of Dance. He will use his funding to attend a five-week dance intensive at The School of Richmond Ballet.

“Along with his schoolwork, he takes dance classes and rehearses each week at our studio and at the Governor’s School; he is on our Spotlight Dance Competition Team. Somehow he finds time to participate in local plays and balances it all,” wrote Michelle Council of Maureen’s School of Dance in her recommendation letter. “Dancing has always been my passion as long as I can recall,” stated La Dieu in his essay. “I live to dance, and dancing helps my soul to breathe.”

• Katelyn Lail Morrison, of King’s Fork High School, who plans to take college-level art classes and purchase professional art materials with her funding.

“Lail is the type of student that goes above and beyond the minimum requirements for a project,” wrote art teacher Alica Johnson. “She pays great attention to detail in her work and enjoys experimenting with new art materials and ideas.” Morrison wrote, “As a student of the arts, I am constantly striving to improve both my artistic technique and expand my knowledge of various media.”