On May 31, OCCTAC received a generous donation from the Richard Ciolek-Torello family in memory of their son, James Brandon Ciolek-Torello. This donation of a complete DJ system came with two beat machines and a synthesizer with all the accessories to perform in a live event. This kind and generous donation will expand our Media Arts department by offering a new DJ class for the upcoming fall 2021 semester!

 

James was born on August 16, 1989, in Phoenix, Arizona and spent his earliest years in Tucson before moving to Anaheim in 1994. He went to school at Imperial Elementary, El Rancho Jr. High, and Canyon H.S. before getting his High School diploma at Santiago Jr College. As a young boy, he was passionate about baseball and played in Little League all the way from T-ball to Senior League. While in high school, he also developed an interest in electronic music. Over the years he acquired a great variety of audio equipment and spent countless hours, late into the night working on his music. He was pursuing a degree as a sound engineer at Fullerton College before he passed away on Dec. 24, 2016.  OCCTAC is extremely grateful to the Torello family for this generous gift, and we will honor James Brandon Ciolek-Torello’s memory in our Media Arts program by teaching and empowering our “at-promise” youth to pursue their dreams in life.