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Over the past 16 months, I’ve been heartened by how Keys 2 Success thrives even as the world rapidly changes around us. If there was one word to describe the secret to our resilience is RELATIONSHIP. Staff, volunteers, and students committing to one another for the long-haul, growing in knowledge and acceptance of one another, expanding the circle as we draw in more of our friends. If you're reading this letter, that means that your relationship is one of those we so deeply value!
Jee-Hoon Krska, Executive Director
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Connecting With "Keys Kids" Opens Doors to New Awareness
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When Kathy Tatlow offered to volunteer with Keys 2 Success (K2S) in Newark, it was because she was inspired by the work of the organization: teaching classical piano to children in under-served neighborhoods of the Ironbound. “I just wanted to help,” she recalls, “and I said I’m not above stuffing envelopes. So I started out stuffing envelopes.” But it didn’t take long for Jee-Hoon Krska, the founder and Executive Director of K2S, to recognize Kathy’s true gifts as a teacher.
With schools closed due to COVID-19 and group music-making and concerts cancelled, some of the Keys students were missing regular feedback and encouragement, which support any kind of learning. So Ms. Krska asked some of her adult volunteers to write “fan letters” to her students. It was so effective that Ms. Krska teamed up with high school students from the Union County Vocational-Technical School newspaper club to create an official Pen Pal program. But some of the younger students needed help in writing replies. That’s where Kathy comes in.
She works with each student, one on one, via Zoom. “It’s delightful. We’ll read over the letter from their high school pen pal together, and then we’ll talk about what they want to write back. I learned how to screen share, so they can see what we’re writing. Some of them start with ‘Dear So-and-So’ and some start with ‘Hi.’ I’ll ask, ‘What would you like to tell your pen pal about yourself?’. Sometimes I’m writing down exactly what they say, and with others I’m helping to form what they say into a sentence. And I ask them about themselves, like ‘When did you start playing piano?’ or ‘What else do you do for fun?’ I hear about their families, their sports, their video games. It’s fun for me.”
A commitment to education seems to be part of Kathy’s DNA. She taught Language Arts and later Creative Dramatics for many years. She’s a long-time member of Summit College Club, a branch of the American Association of University Women, which is dedicated to equity for women and girls--through education. She met Jee-Hoon Krska through the College Club, when Jee-Hoon volunteered for the Scholarship Committee which Kathy chairs; the committee works through a comprehensive process to select each year’s scholarship award-winners, another way of supporting education.
“I probably started [working with the Keys students] with some preconceived notions about ‘being a good person’ by doing this. But what I quickly realized is that children are children, and I love them!” Kathy said recently. “They’re bright, willing to share, accepting me for who I am. And I’ve learned a lot from them. It’s just a delightful experience.” Her sessions with the children are often at the end of the day, and she admitted she would sometimes come to a session feeling exhausted. But by the end of her time with a student, “I always went away energized.”
While Kathy’s immediate focus is on helping the young students write letters, her interactions with each child are much broader. She usually invites them to play something on the piano, and they often are delighted to perform for her. One student offered to sing a song; “It was so beautiful, I was close to tears by the end.” On another day, she complimented one of her students on the T-shirt she was wearing. The student responded with, “We just straightened all of my drawers--let me show you my t-shirts!” A Zoom tour of the child’s newly-arranged t-shirt drawer followed.
For Ms. Krska, Keys 2 Success has always been about creating connections as well as music, both between individuals and across communities. “It’s not just about teaching piano,” she said. Even more important, she asserts, is the opportunity for high school students to become role models and mentors for children...for retirees to enjoy the company of young musicians ...for parents and teachers to get to know each other. In the past year, her vision has crystallized about why such connections are critical, as the growing call for racial equity and social justice have touched her personally.
“Whether we’re fighting a global pandemic, or systemic racism, or educational inequities, we really are in this together.” Ms. Krska said. “Forming new connections is a way to forge new mindsets.”
Kathy Tatlow agrees. “Over the past year, I’ve done a lot of reading a lot about racial equity. But this is different. This is just me relating to the children.” Beyond the one-to-one connections with Keys Kids, Kathy has also begun participating in Friday staff meetings with Keys teachers and volunteers. “I’ve become more informed from an adult point of view, because the meetings involve people of all different ages, all different backgrounds. One young woman was saying, ‘I feel so privileged because, although I’m from Newark, I was able to go to a magnet High School. Many of my friends didn’t have that chance.’ It’s an eye-opener. I understand so much better how much we take for granted. For me, it’s a chance to exchange ideas, to meet someone with a different perspective face to face, rather than reading a book.”
Now Kathy is looking forward to schools being open in September, so she can visit the Keys Kids there. “I can’t wait to meet them all in person.”
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The Practice-A-Thon Comes to a Celebratory Close
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Guest article by Emely Duraes, K2S high school volunteer
Recently, this year's Practice-A-Thon, which began in April, has come to a celebratory close. While 2021 was the second year that Keys 2 Success has hosted a Practice-A-Thon, with the help of inspired volunteers, they were able to raise over $8,000 which will pay for this summer’s Piano Bus program, bringing in-person lessons to students in 5 different locations in Newark. By participating in the Practice-A-Thon, participants of any skill level could submit short 15 minute videos of their practices or performances in a stress-free environment. Whether they were playing the piano, violin, or sang, every participant got the opportunity to share their music with the world.
There were many contributors who helped spread the word about the Practice-A-Thon, one of which was Kimberly Burja, a band teacher, who was able to involve the entire Tenafly School District to the Practice-A-Thon. Over the course of three months the Tenafly School district students shared their spectacular jazz band, orchestra, and solo performances with Keys 2 Success and by the end of the fundraiser they were able to collectively raise over $1,400.
Another instrumental contributor to the fundraiser was Amanda Harberg. Harberg is a celebrated composer, piano teacher and mother to Sydney Fink, who is a high-school teaching volunteer at Keys 2 Success. While this was Harberg’s first time contributing to the Practice-A-Thon, she had been following Keys 2 Success through Facebook for a long time. She stated, “I think it is an important organization. Bringing music education to students in Newark who may otherwise not have it is something that I believe in.” Through the use of Facebook and reaching out to close contacts and students, she found “People, generally, loved the idea of the fundraiser and that was nice to see. It raised awareness, even in those who didn't participate.”
The entire fundraiser was organized by a high school volunteer, Wesley Liu, a rising Junior who first came to know about Keys 2 Success when his piano teacher, Beatrice Long, encouraged him to participate in the Practice-A-Thon last year. “I learned a lot about how I view the world and the people around me because Keys 2 success isn’t only about fundraising, it's about raising awareness about racial issues and learning to confront them.”
The Practice-A-Thon was an enriching learning experience for all the participants involved with raising awareness and money for the students at Keys 2 Success. The Practice-A-Thon also allows its participants to spread the joy of their music with others, no matter how musically advanced they are in a non-competitive environment. Overall, while the Practice-A-Thon is a relatively new fundraiser, it is growing and becoming more accessible and instrumental towards providing quality music education.
Emely Duraes is an aspiring educator and a rising junior at UCTech. She joined the staff of Keys 2 Success in 2021 through the Penpal program and is currently one of the main high school writers and volunteers in the Fundraising Committee (if you have received a thank you call from someone recently for a donation, it may very well have been Emely!) Although Emely doesn’t live in Newark she has been connected to Newark her whole life. She believes that music is a powerful tool that connects communities and that every child deserves to have accessible music education in their lives regardless of their race or socioeconomic standing.
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Written by Alondra Martinez, K2S High School Intern
The Critical Good, Ethical Arts Education was a program taken by staff and volunteers at Keys 2 Success, myself included. A new topic was introduced at the beginning of every week for six weeks through reading content created by Allison Russo. Subsequently, a discussion board was made available to those who wanted to delve deeper into the lesson and answer a prompt and/or share their feelings and opinions.
Some weeks I’d write my feelings out and others I’d feel so perplexed and unable to grasp certain concepts as I wished I would have. The weekly Zoom meetings would dissipate all of that worry, allowing me to hear everyone’s personal opinions, answer whatever it was I had been unable to understand, and ultimately realize that more than just a program for my own enrichment, the Critical Good was a tool for all of us to become better educators to students that would be affected by our actions and words towards them.
In particular, there was a conversation regarding social-emotional learning during week two and it seemed as though while my perspective was all about the positives of implementing social-emotional learning, many of the staff had a different mindset and instead highlighted concerns such as inexperience. Through that conversation I was able to become much more critical of the content I was consuming each week in the readings, making me more fit to interact with students in a positive and non-scarring way.
The ultimate goal is to provide quality music education to these underserved kids in a way that they can relate to in a safe way. I think through this program we’re closer than ever before to achieving just that.
Alondra Martinez is a rising Junior at UCTech who joined our staff after being introduced to Keys 2 Success through the Pen Pal program. Energetic and organized, she leads the publicity team in documenting the lives of our staff, volunteers, and students on social and mass media. Her interests include history, sociology, economics, and political science. Alondra is the eldest of 7 siblings, she is determined to be the first in her family to attend college.
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