Leadership & Community Outreach
Villa Musica
For the past four years, I’ve worked at a non-profit music school called Villa Musica. At first, I was an unpaid intern working at the front desk and helping out during the summer camps, teaching anything from guitar and violin to ‘Glee Club’ singing lessons. After two years of interning, I was hired as the head of the Villa Musica Youth Council and additionally worked as a summer camp counselor. As head of the youth council, I worked with my colleague, Vishaala, to organize monthly teen recitals to provide young musicians in the area with a stress-free environment to ask peers for help with their audition or personal repertoire pieces. We brought in snacks and spent hours talking and noting different ideas about how to strengthen the community of young musicians and how we can better support one another. I played duets on the spot with Vishaala to open the recitals and facilitated discussions about the pieces. As my senior year rolls around, I want to make the most of this opportunity to connect and share music with people my age, as well as inspire younger artists to reach out of their comfort zone.
Another part of my job at Villa Musica is to assist with the Satellite Program outreach events. We provide need-based scholarships to young students who would not have the opportunity to play instruments otherwise. I’ve traveled to St. Paul's Episcoble Cathedral and UCSD Mandeville theater to tune instruments and supervise the students. I’ve found that this program is a wonderful thing to be a part of. I love to see children find a love for music and to be able to provide opportunities for children in communities without access to music lessons. I would love to be a part of something similar in college and beyond.
Volunteering at the Che Cafe
Over the past two years, I’ve been involved with the Che Cafe Collective on the campus of UCSD. It is a music and art venue that helps local bands expand their audience as well as provide community resources. During the school year, I attended zoom meetings about how to better reach the community around UCSD and I also helped out with the community fridge by making burritos and easily stored food to give out to people in need. Additionally, the Che Cafe is a great place to support local bands. My friends and I try to go at least once a week to see new bands and find new artists. I’ve met some great friends there and plan to volunteer more often this coming year.
Summer Enrichment
This year, I worked with my close friend, Reid, as he developed his own film production company called Blaise Productions. I traveled to different San Diego music venues like Soma, The Che Cafe, Queen Bees, and Humble Hearts to be his film assistant. I learned my way around a camera and got to know local musicians. I also took the time to photograph some of the bands for my own enjoyment. I organized backstage and honed my skills with a film camera. This experience sparked my interest in film and production as well as made me more intrigued by joining a band sometime in the future.
I was so inspired by working for Reid that I wanted to take classes that dealt with media production. This summer, I went to Vermont to take a digital media production course at Champlain College in Burlington. There, I learned how to use Premier Pro to edit sound and videos as well as how talk shows, podcasts, and music videos are filmed. We walked around the waterfront and interviewed locals about their experiences in Burlington and I got to write interview questions about good date spots on the waterfront and put together a promo video for a small business.
Back to Bach Project
I became involved in the Back to Bach Project in my junior year of high school, where myself and a group of classical musicians volunteered at elementary schools, libraries, and community organizations to bring music to young students. This project strives to strengthen the community of musicians, leaders, and educators to better arts education for elementary school-aged students. I had the opportunity to perform short solo excerpts from Le Cygne by Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns and fast sections from Pirates of the Caribbean to demonstrate the versatility of the cello. This experience allowed me to share my passion for music with students who had not been exposed to classical instruments.
