Adrian Carcione Two Santa Susana High School graduates have received the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Young Artists Scholarship.

Trevor Mauk and Adrian Carcione each received a $2,500 Young Artists Scholarship last month. The scholarship was established in 2009 as part of VCCF’s ArtsLIVE initiative.

Trevor, 17, plays the piano and cello, sings, and composes songs. He also enjoys photography. His parents helped shape his interests: His father is a musician and his mother is a photographer.

He will attend UC Santa Barbara in the fall, where he will major in pre-communications and minor in music.

“I’m majoring in communications to keep my options open. I’m not 100 percent sure what I want to do. I don’t know if I see myself pursuing music and photography as a hobby or career,” Trevor said.

“I was really excited (about receiving the scholarship). It made me feel better about paying for college.”

Trevor Mauk In high school, Trevor helped plan concerts and events as president of the Instrumental Music Club and edited the arts section of the school yearbook. He was the first-chair cellist in Santa Susana’s concert and symphony orchestras and sang in the school’s jazz choir.

Trevor, who started playing piano when he was 3, is the pianist and lead singer in an alternative rock band.

He’s looking forward to the future.

“I’m most excited about going to college next year. I’m excited about the freedom to choose what I want to do and the freedom to be somewhere new,” he said.

Adrian, 17, is also a pianist and plans to attend Moorpark College before transferring to UC Santa Cruz, where he will major in ethnomusicology, the study of music across cultures.

“I’m going to explore and expand the horizon of whatever my undiscovered interests might be,” he said. “The scholarship is perfect because it will help me in the process of college. That’s extremely valuable to me.”

Adrian started taking piano lessons at Berri’s Music Academy in Simi Valley when he was 5. He now takes lessons from Joan Thompson, a former music professor at Moorpark College.

“My parents enrolled me because they saw I had a lot of love for it and potential in it. At that early age I enjoyed hearing the sounds,” he said.

The classical pianist composed an original piece for his senior project. He performed a portion of the 20-minute song, accompanied by the symphony orchestra, at Santa Susana’s winter recital.

“In music, you can express any emotion you want,” he said. “The piano is such a malleable instrument in terms of the kinds of music it can play. People understand the piano very much.

“It’s very different than other instruments because it’s very musically logical the way the keyboard is laid out. I like the system and structure of that. I like to study what in my technique and movements can affect the tone of what I’m playing and how I can better my interpretation. I make it a science.”

After college, Adrian hopes to attend graduate school or join the Peace Corps.

“Whatever I love I will do,” he said. “It’s a very freeing experience to graduate from high school. There’s the possibility that you can do anything.”

Ventura County Community Foundation’s “Send Our Best to the Best” campaign aims to raise $375,000 to fund the Young Artists Scholarship fund.

Donations may be made online at www.vccf.org.