Category Archives: Piano Program

Springtime School Visits

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Here’s the thing about the CFK office: people who stop by, even on simple errands with very specific goals, often end up staying a while. Months, years sometimes.

In the CFK office: Caitlin, Luis (with Kona), Colin and Mike

Luis Morales, new Managing Director at Fortress Investments, arrived to us through the volunteering site Catchafire with a plan to get our office systems into some semblance of order. He promptly went about the business of scrapping our horribly outdated technology and filling the room with enough monitors to look like a Wall Street trading floor. Needless to say, he’s done more to bring the CFK office into the 21st-century than any other individual (read more about the project here).

But the real benefit of all his hard work has been having Luis involved in all things CFK for the last few months, including recent school visits to check out our freshly expanded music programs.

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Student Highlight: Melyanet at P.S. 154

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Congratulations to P.S. 154 piano student Melyanet, who received the Dominican Consulate’s Meritorious Student Award for her sky-high grades and test scores, outstanding leadership skills and active involvement in extracurricular activities (yeah, piano!). Did we mention she’s only in 2nd grade?

Piano students at P.S. 154

The Meritorious Student Award is an initiative from Dominican President Dr. Leonel Fernandez to recognize Dominican students who have demonstrated remarkable academic achievement in NYC, CT, PA and NJ. We love it when the larger community recognizes our students for their successes–not only because they deserve a little credit for getting focused at such a young age, but also because it reinforces the importance of providing as many different paths to excellence as possible.

For Melyanet, success in piano provides the confidence and energy she needs to succeed in other areas of school, as well. She tells us that her favorite memory of all time was her audition into the program. For the first time, she says, she felt truly talented and special, as everyone clapped at the end of her audition performance. Playing makes her feel “good and fuzzy,” like she can do whatever she wants and that anything is possible–especially when her mom comes to watch her performances.

Kudos, Malyanet!

Year-End Violin and Piano Recitals

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Ms. Ai’s and Mr. Majid’s musical instruction throughout the year have given the young musicians of P.S. 154 and P.S. 73 a great deal of confidence, which the students exuded on stage at both schools’ final recitals. It was clear that their practicing had paid off. Everyone in the audience could tell that each student had put significant time and effort into preparing for these concerts. If the kids were nervous, they did not show it. The performances were seamless and the programs ended this school year on a high note.

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