Michael Gomez
2025 Recipient
Michael Gomez with Brian Barnhart, Chair of the CHS Visual
and Performing Arts Department and Director of CHS Drama
ONTARIO, Calif., April 10, 2025 – Chaffey High School 2025 graduating senior Michael Gomez has won the Rapattoni Drama Scholarship and will receive a $2,500 dollar scholarship for Outstanding Performance and Dedication in Chaffey High School Theatre.
According to Nathaniel Brown, Choir Teacher, Aaron Anderson, Drama Teacher, and Brian Barnhart, Chair of the Visual and Performing Arts Department and Director of CHS Drama, “Michael was selected for this scholarship recognition due to his theatrical talent, commitment, and dedication to the productions at Chaffey High School.” Michael academically ranks 53rd of 730 seniors at Chaffey High School and has a 4.0 grade point average.
Brian continued by recalling, “Michael’s first role for us at Chaffey Theatre Company was featured as a Cowboy Ancestor in The Addams Family: “A New Musical Comedy” in spring 2022. In the fall of 2022, he roller-skated at the best roller disco in the musical Xanadu. He played many characters, including Patrick Martin in the spring 2023 show Little Shop Of Horrors. He was pals with Fonzie as Potsie Weber in the fall 2023 production of Happy Days. Michael’s acting presence and voice echoed in the damp streets of London in the 2024 spring musical Sweeney Todd. Michael lit the stage up with positivity as SpongeBob in the fall 2024 production of The SpongeBob Musical. And for his final production at Chaffey, he will be taking on the role of Tommy, in the Spring 2025 show The Who’s TOMMY.
Obtaining the rank of Thespian President in Chaffey’s International Thespian Society Troupe 5535, Mr. Gomez is a well-seasoned performer, having entertained over 24,471 patrons at the Gardiner W. Spring Auditorium.
This is the 14th annual scholarship provided by Niki Brown Rapattoni, CHS class of 1958, and her husband, the late Andy Rapattoni, CHS class of 1957. 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 is thrilled to provide this scholarship to Michael Gomez, a deserving CHS graduating student who has excelled in drama and plans to continue his pursuit of nursing and drama at either Vanguard University or Fullerton College.”
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. Michael is a most deserving recipient of this annual scholarship and I know he will repay it forward just as other benefactors have.”
Michael is the son of his proud mother Mindy Guzman of Upland, CA; and is currently deciding between Vanguard University or Fullerton College, CA, where he will major in Nursing and Drama, starting in August. He 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; 2025-Michel Gomez.
Past Recipients:
2024
Emma Uribe
2023
Kendra Barnhart
2022
Marcel Almirantearena
2021
Tiffany Silvas
2020
Zohary Gonzalez
2019
Jasmine Padilla
2018
Ashley Flores
2017
Anthony Nelson
2016
Adam Granados
2015
Jonathan Guevara
2014
Jade Winter White
2013
Vincent LaVigna
