8 minute read
the community in a concert
Eighth grader Jaden Ouyang and his family found a creative way to fundraise for their community by putting on an online concert and collecting donations.
PLAYING ALONG Jaden Ouyang and his sister perform for their charity recital (above). Both Ouyangs performed on their live stream that benefitted Vogal Alcove. Jaden poses with his cello (right).
Eighth grader Jaden Ouyang has always wanted to serve.
In a world restricted by a pandemic, opportunities to do so can be hard to come by.
However, Ouyang and his family can make music.
And they’ll find a way to make that work.
“I wanted to use my musical skills for a good cause,” Ouyang said. “During the pandemic, we got a lot of time to practice, so my sister and I put together a program with the intention of recording it. But then, instead of just showing it to our close friends and family members, we decided to broadcast it to raise money.”
Jaden live streamed the event Jan. 2 over YouTube as he believed it was an excellent way to begin the new year. Originally, Jaden had only wanted to record a virtual concert for his family and friends before ultimately deciding to help the community with his talent.
“I just thought that was the most convenient time to do it,” Jaden said. “It was right after New Year’s, so it was a good reason to have a performance to start the year off strong. At first, we just wanted to record it, but then we decided, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to broadcast it to a bunch of people and have them raise money for a good cause?’ I recorded it late last year, and I came up with the idea of the live stream a month or two before that.”
To get the word out about the performance, Jaden sent messages to as many people as he could about the upcoming virtual concert.
“I had a directory book, so I put down everyone’s emails and their parent’s emails onto a list,” Jaden said. “Then, I just wrote invitations to everyone. There were also some close friends [from outside the school] that I emailed and invited to join as well.”
The event benefited the charity organization Vogel Alcove, chosen by Jaden because of his history with them. His initial plan was to raise a modest amount of money to donate, but – to his surprise – he raised more than three times his set goal. Jaden’s mother, Melody Ouyang, contacted the charity group through Facebook and arranged how the donations would be transferred to them.
“We’ve donated food or clothing to them before, so it’s a cause that we really care about in our family,” Melody said. “It’s an organization that provides daycare to underprivileged children and also homeless children. During the holidays, I reached out to them and told them we wanted to do this and see how much money we could raise, so they basically just provided a link for donation and asked us what the goal was. Initially, our goal was $1000, but because of the generosity of the community, our family and friends and St. Mark’s, we were able to exceed that threefold.”
The recording itself was done in the middle of November 2020 with many takes and repeats. For Jaden, it was a tedious process and even a bit irritating.
“One thing I’ve been told is that I’m not a very technically consistent person when it comes to playing the cello,” Jaden said. “That’s a huge problem for recording because that means I miss a whole lot more, and I have to start over multiple times. If I messed up big time, like forgetting a whole passage, we would just stop recording and start over. If I screwed up too many times, it got a little bit frustrating.”
Jaden used to play for the orchestra during his first years in Middle School, but he is currently pursuing other fine art programs to explore new interests.
“I was in the orchestra back when Dr. Fray was here, and I stayed there with Ms. Choi for one more year, but I just wanted to branch out and try new fine arts,” Jaden said. “But now, I’m doing ceramics, 3D Design and Design and Publishing. I was planning on coming back [to orchestra] for Upper School.”
Since he was two years old, Jaden has been learning how to play instruments, particularly the
I wanted to use my musical skills for a good cause. During the pandemic, we got a lot of time to practice.... we decided to broadcast it to raise money.
Jaden Ouyang, eighth grader
by Eric Yoo
English and history instructor Dr. John Perryman has received an additional title, director of civic responsibility. His new role have him teach and oversee a civics class that involves both the leadership and ethics program and the community service program.
“It touches on some elements of those here” Perryman said, “but it is to try to find ways our student body in the entire school might more directly engage in civic institutions and structures around town.”
Perryman plans to offer an elective next school year that covers how a major city functions. He believes this elective will be important for students who want to engage in civic activity.
“We will be going to some city council meetings and seeing various politicians and civic leaders in the North Texas area,” Perryman said. “We will learn about many aspects of a city, whether it’s utility and program delivery, infrastructure, or how city council actually operates. I want to better equip our students for meaningful civic engagement in high school and immediately afterwards.”
Perryman hopes to take eighth, ninth, and tenth grade students on a field trip to Dallas’ CitySquare, which is one of the city’s most successful and prominent non-profit organizations. They have a food pantry and health clinic, and they offer a selection of job skills and training opportunities.
“They run groups of teenagers through a poverty simulation exercise,” Perryman said. “It’s an activity where four students sit around a board and play different cards to see how it would affect the city, and it helps them better understand the causes of poverty. It is a really eye-opening experience.” piano and cello. His piano lessons started when he was a toddler, while his cello education began when he was in third grade. Once he reached fifth grade, Jaden decided to drop piano tutorings to focus his time on playing the cello. However, Jaden is slightly concerned about the future and has plans if he can no longer spend as much time on his instrument.
“I want to get as good as I can with it until I just possibly can’t have any time to work on it anymore,” Jaden said. “I just hope that I can get really good in the limited amount of time that I have. I want to keep doing cello because it’s fun. The funny thing is, I quit piano for cello. It was a hard decision because I was so much better at the piano, but I just enjoy cello so much more, and I just want to continue playing it for the foreseeable future.”
Jaden’s proficiency with the stringed instrument has led him to be quite comfortable performing for an audience, and his virtual performance was no different. Of course, there is always room for improvement, and Jaden keeps himself accountable for any mistakes.
“I thought the performance was successful,” Jaden said. “Everyone seemed to like it, but I can’t help but listen closely to the live stream and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I messed up, I played this note out-oftune!’”
Melody believes that the live stream will foster positive values in her children, and events like these will teach them practical ways to help their community.
“They learn how to give back to the community,” Melody said. “A lot of times, it really doesn’t take a lot. They were gonna have this concert anyway, so finding a cause to raise money and give back to with it is a win-win situation. A lot of times it just takes some creativity to set up something and to try to give back to the community.”
After the success of the event, Jaden is keen on performing in a similar event later on.
“Gosh, I hope this kind of thing happens in the future,” Jaden said. “It was fun, so I want to do it again.”
STORY Cooper Ribman, Morgan Chow PHOTOS Courtesy Jaden Ouyang
He would also be interested in a field trip to the George W. Bush Presidential Center to talk with their global health experts. After seeing many issues from around the world, he would challenge students to create a class project that addresses one of these problems.
Perryman’s role will allow him to share knowledge with students about issues that face our communities today, with the hope that they can begin thinking about the problems and maybe even come up with a solution to help in the future.
“I think one of the greatest insights and sense of awareness we can provide for young students is realizing whether it is this school, this city or this country, we are a community through time,” Perryman said. “We need to be good stewards of this community to pass it along in a better shape to future communities.”
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March 11, 2021
