Rapattoni Drama Scholarship Fund

Emma Uribe

2024 Recipient

Emma Uribe with Brian Barnhart, Chair of the CHS Visual
and Performing Arts Department and Director of CHS Drama

ONTARIO, Calif., April 4, 2024 – Chaffey High School 2024 graduating senior Emma Uribe has won the Rapattoni Drama Scholarship and will receive a $1,500 dollar scholarship for Outstanding Performance and Dedication in Chaffey High School Theatre.

According to Choir teacher Nathaniel Brown, Drama teacher Aaron Anderson, and Brian Barnhart, Chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department and Director of CHS Drama, “Emma was selected for this scholarship recognition due to her theatrical talent, commitment, and dedication to the productions at Chaffey High School.” Emma ranks 99^th of 855 seniors at Chaffey High School and has a 4.0 grade point average.

Brian continued by recalling, “Emma’s first role for us at Chaffey Theatre Company was in the cast of The Best of Broadway, a spring 2021 virtual showcase streaming on YouTube. In the fall of 2021, Emma portrayed Marcy and Woodstock in the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, performed outside the GWS Auditorium, the first show to be performed outside in 21 years. In the spring of 2022, Emma portrayed the Flapper Ancestor and the Moon in The Addams Family: ‘A New Musical Comedy.’ In the fall of 2022, she roller-skated into our hearts as the Greek muse Erato in the musical Xanadu. She held the Doo-Wop beat as Crystal in the Spring 2023 show Little Shop of Horrors... Rode a motorcycle across the stage as Pinky Tuscadero in the Fall 2023 show Happy Days... And, for her final production at Chaffey, she will be taking on the three female lead roles and music captain of the Spring 2024 show Sweeney Todd.”

Obtaining the rank of Thespian President in Chaffey’s International Thespian Society Troupe 5535, Ms. Uribe is a well-seasoned performer, having entertained over 19,554 patrons of Chaffey Theatre since first stepping onto the stage over Zoom during a pandemic.

This is the 13^th annual scholarship provided by Niki Brown Rapattoni, CHS class of 1958, and her husband, the late Andy Rapattoni, CHS class of 1957.

The Rapattoni Family

The two of them met in the Gardiner W. Spring Auditorium in 1956 while attending the senior play. The high school sweethearts were married 57 years and are avid supporters of the CHS Alumni Association and Chaffey Theatre. Andy was the 2010 CHS Alumni Tiger of the Year and spoke at that years’ Baccalaureate ceremony, and Niki was selected as the 2020 Tiger of the Year and was the first to video record her speech for the graduates due to the Covid mandates preventing a live ceremony. When asked about the scholarship, co-benefactor Niki replied, “Our Rapattoni family are thrilled to provide this scholarship to Emma Uribe, a deserving CHS graduating student who has excelled in Drama and plans to continue her pursuit in the arts at Redlands University.”

Brian Barnhart and CHS faculty are very grateful for the support and dedication the Rapattonis have gifted the program over the years and Brian remarked, “They walked these grounds in the ‘50s and began a lifetime of ‘paying it forward’ to our talented performers. Emma is a most deserving recipient of this annual scholarship and I know she will repay it forward just as other benefactors have.”

Emma is the daughter of proud parents Nancy Uribe and Jose Uribe of Ontario, CA; and has been accepted to Redlands University in Redlands, CA, where she will major in Music starting in August. She has been added to the list of Rapattoni Drama Scholarship recipients: 2012-Gabriel Navarro; 2013-Vincent LaVigna; 2014-Jade Winter White; 2015-Jonathan Guevara; 2016-Adam Granados; 2017-Anthony Nelson; 2018-Ashley Flores; 2019-Jasmine Padilla; 2020-Zohary Gonzalez; 2021-Tiffany Silvas; 2022-Marcel Almirantearena; 2023-Kendra Barnhart; 2024-Emma Uribe.

Past Recipients:

2023

Kendra Barnhart

2022

Marcel Almirantearena

2021