By Cristina Rouvalis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Bill Strickland didn’t recognize the strikingly beautiful woman who walked into the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild a few weeks back.

But the reaction of his students who leapt out of their seats and peered out of art studios and cooking classes told him this — she was a celebrity.

Students did triple-takes and stuttered “Drucilla” incredulously as they crowded around Victoria Rowell, who played the sultry character on the CBS daytime soap opera “The Young and the Restless…”

… And in her devotion to those artistic pursuits, she found a kindred spirit in Strickland, who has spent years building up the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild as a way for at-risk youth to change their lives through the arts and career training. The nonprofit group serves about 3,000 Pittsburgh Public School children, many of them at-risk, with instruction in ceramics, design, digital arts, photography and other skills.

For the full Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07247/814382-51.stm