Paul Vancea has won the 2013 NABE Foundation Americans for the Arts Scholarship Award. The $5,000 scholarship will support the study and application of economics in his undergraduate studies and professional career.

Vancea is currently a junior at Brandeis University, majoring in Economics, Business and Film. Upon graduation, he hopes to find a way to combine Economics and Finance with Film, whether this means making videos promoting certain policies or socially conscious businesses, short economics educational tutorials or a meaningful feature film depicting and encouraging new, more socially responsible business models.

In 2007, Vancea moved from Romania with his family and settled in San Diego. While in high school, he became involved with the San Diego Youth Council, learning about advocating for youth rights and issues. He still works with the group as a Youth Media Consultant. This experience has carried over into his film work including a documentary about Eli J. Segal, whose passion for citizen engagement led to the creation of The Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership Program. In fact, he was one of the 2012 Fellows in the program. Vanca has also produced and directed videos for various departments at Brandeis for in-house use—€”a fitness video to motivate his fellow students to maintain an active lifestyle and a pilot video for a YouTube series.

Vancea will accept his award today during a luncheon at the NABE Economic Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. Americans for the Arts Board Member and BCA Executive Board Chairman William T. Kerr, president & CEO of Arbitron, Inc., will present Vancea with his award today at the luncheon.