Spotlight on NJSO CHAMPS
Last May, 25 elementary-school violin students from Newark’s University Heights Charter School (UHCS) made their concert debut on stage with the Greater Newark Youth Orchestra for an audience of nearly 800 people. Few in attendance would ever have suspected that those precocious performers had first held a violin a mere month and a half earlier.
Anyone familiar with the early days of music lessons can tell you that most budding musicians wouldn’t be ready to step on stage six weeks after picking up their instruments for the first time. This kind of accelerated learning is only one of the goals of NJSO CHAMPS.
NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project) is an intensive education program inspired by the Venezuelan social change and music education program El Sistema. The program seeks to develop students’ goal-directed behavior and skills to foster social and academic success, improving students’ self-esteem, academic achievement and lifelong character traits like perseverance and leadership through learning the intricacies of playing a string instrument.
“A lot of people don’t get to express themselves through an instrument—this gives me the opportunity to do that.”
– UHCS fifth-grade participant Shantreea J.
This year, more than 40 UHCS students in grades four through seven are receiving after-school instruction in violin, viola or cello for two hours per day, three days per week. “Family fun days” involve students’ parents and relatives; students also receive complimentary tickets to select NJSO concerts.
Last month, CHAMPS made their NJSO debut, performing with the professional orchestra at the NJSO’s family concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark.
Parent Felicia John says: “The program is just awesome because it takes our urban children and teaches them that there is something else out there. It teaches diversity, teaches our children that there is more to music than just the videos they see. All the work that is put into these things [starts] here. Responsibility is just one of the things [my daughter] Shanasia is learning, and she is so excited about this. To be a part of something positive is a beautiful feeling, and that’s what she is feeling right now. As a parent, to say my daughter has a violin concert [at NJPAC] is a ‘wow’ moment.”
In addition to upcoming in-school concerts, CHAMPS will perform a spring concert on Friday, June 6, at Bethany Baptist Church in Newark and will cap the 2013–14 season with an appearance on stage with the NJSO at the Orchestra’s family concert on Saturday, June 7.
“NJSO CHAMPS is about nurturing a community of young scholars and budding leaders, and the determination the students have already shown—both on and off their instruments!—is nothing short of inspiring,” says NJSO Vice President of Education & Community Engagement Marshell Jones Kumahor.
“When I play the violin, I feel like I let all my emotions out. If I’m angry, I play and it smoothes me out. When I’m happy, it makes me more happy.”
– UHCS sixth-grade participant Adelaide T.
UHCS Executive Director Misha Simmonds says: “There is a big character-development piece that [helps students understand] how developing their skills on the [violin, viola and cello] can help them become better people. It’s difficult to learn an instrument. It’s something that requires perseverance and grit and coming back to it, practicing over and over. Students are already commenting that the confidence they have from persevering with [their instrument] is helping them in their classwork [and] their capacity to work with each other.”
“[Teamwork] to me is very peaceful, because everybody is working together. Sometimes we’re off track, but we just correct it real quick.”
– UHCS sixth-grade participant Al T.
An evaluation of the pilot season of NJSO CHAMPS found that students’ level of engagement in the program was associated with higher levels of perseverance, which was in turn associated with higher levels of academic achievement.
View NJSO CHAMPS media coverage and a photo gallery. Learn more at www.njsymphony.org/champs.
The NJSO gratefully acknowledges NJSO CHAMPS donors for their generous support of this program: TD Charitable Foundation, Macy’s, Verizon, Thomas & Agnes Carvel Foundation, The Leavens Foundation, Marjorie Bunnell Charitable Fund, Investors Foundation, The Merck Company Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, Turrell Fund, Victoria Foundation and an anonymous individual donor.