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December is my favorite time of year. I love getting greeting cards from friends and hearing stories about their families. Also, because my birthday is on December 24th, we always celebrate it together as a family! 2023 has been a great year of growth for our Keys 2 Success family. We will conclude our school year with the biggest recital ever, featuring a 35-piece Keyboard Orchestra. Whether you are celebrating near or far this December, I hope you will celebrate the good you have helped to create in Newark!
Jee-Hoon Krska, Executive Director
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Funfare at the Newark Museum
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On Saturday, November 18th, Keys 2 Success performed at the Newark Museum of Art’s Ballantine Fun Fair. This fair welcomed families from all over Newark and beyond, and was a wonderful community building event. From 2 to 3 PM, Keys’ performance showcased the diverse talents within the organization.
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Student performances featured small ensembles, and solo acts were delivered by Fifame Amouzou, David Ogunderu, and our first adult student Wander Richardson (Ms. Wander’s children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren all came to support her!) Taylor Souels, a staff member and vocalist, moved the audience with a powerful rendition of “Stand Up” from the movie Harriet, accompanied by Jee-Hoon Krska, Keys’ Executive Director. We were even fortunate enough to have staff member Patricio Apaez, a professional classical pianist, visit us from Mexico to perform “Lacrimosa” from Mozart’s Requiem.
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Finally, board member Phil Bingham wowed everyone with his exceptional Jazz renditions of beloved Christmas tunes, inspiring an impromptu choir of students and audience members to join in singing along. Following the performance, prospective students and parents visited the Keys 2 Success table to discover more about us. We were thrilled to welcome numerous new students who have signed up, and we're looking forward to seeing them in class soon!
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About the Author: Madeline Carnesi is a staff member at Keys 2 Success, and will be starting at Emory University in January 2024. She plans to major in public policy and minor in piano performance, and hopes to attend law school. At Keys 2 Success, she has taught many students, writes articles, and is involved in fundraising. Madeline attended the masterclass with her parents and younger sister Celia who is now also going to be volunteering with Keys 2 Success.
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This Giving Tuesday, Keys 2 Success was awarded with $10,000 from Impact100 Essex!
Impact100 Essex was founded on Martin Luther King Day in January 2017. Twenty-three women gathered in an East Orange apartment to discuss how collective giving could be used to support local non-profits addressing the needs of historically underrepresented communities. They followed the Impact100 model, initiated in 2001, with a simple but effective concept: to engage women in the power of collective giving to fund transformative grants to local non-profits seeking to broaden or deepen their programs.
In 2021, Impact100 Essex piloted a mission-based, unrestricted grant ranging from $10,000 - $15,000 awarded to three local nonprofits led by Black, Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC). The purpose of the Equity Grants is to highlight small BIPOC-led nonprofits that engage with — and seek input from — the constituents they work with and serve, recognizing that smaller, community-based organizations are best situated to advocate for and understand communities of color.
We are so grateful to be partnering with this amazing group of women, dedicated to improving the lives of many in New Jersey. If you’re interested in how you can help Impact100 Essex help others, check out its website!
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We are delighted to introduce you to the newest member of our Keys 2 Success family, Shaughnessy Price. Shaughnessy joins us as a key contributor to our development and communications team. Her remarkable background and her passion for empowering youth make her a perfect fit for Keys 2 Success’s staff.
Growing up just outside of Chicago, Shaughnessy recalls times in which her family struggled financially and had to rely on government services. As the oldest of four children, Shaugnessy assumed great responsibilities in order to help her family. In response to these experiences, she exhibited a drive to excel in every facet of her life, becoming class president and participating in all varsity sports during her high school years. During her sophomore year she was accepted to the Indiana Academy of Science, Mathematics, and Humanities. This experience allowed her to live on a college campus during her junior and senior years of highschool. The college credit that she earned in high school helped her to graduate early from Indiana University with a degree in business.
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With her business degree, Shaughnessy moved to New Jersey and became an esthetician dedicated to empowering women. However, as she developed her beauty business, she realized that her calling was elsewhere. Shaugnessy became an active member of the New Providence United Methodist Church and became heavily involved with the Church’s various outreach initiatives. She met Jee-Hoon Krska, founder of Keys 2 Success, and wanted to help in any way possible. Shaughnessy began volunteering to support our mission and was present at various fundraisers including the Practice-A-Thon. At Keys 2 Success, she found a community dedicated to providing students with the resources necessary to grow as learners, musicians, and good citizens.
Shaughnessy's upbringing as one of the only Black children in a predominantly white area, combined with her family's reliance on government programs for a period, nurtured in her a profound sense of empathy. She understands the challenges that many of our students face, having walked a similar path. She believes in focusing on commonalities rather than differences, emphasizing that we all share the innate desire to be our best selves and overcome obstacles on the road to success.
We are thrilled to welcome Shaughnessy Price to the Keys 2 Success staff, and we look forward to the invaluable contributions she will make towards our mission. Her compassion, determination, and shared experiences will undoubtedly enrich the lives of our students and our organization as a whole.
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Dear Keys 2 Success Student,
For my entire life, I had been told that college was the key. To “what” exactly always changed with the situation I was in. At times, it was the key to financial security from the poverty I faced. For others, it was a guaranteed shelter in case I didn’t have a home to return to. So, to say that I idealized college is an understatement. I had to go — no matter what. However, despite this urgency, I was petrified until the day I moved in. My brain just couldn’t process at all what life would be like there. The place felt too surreal to imagine.
Now, I’m almost done with my first semester. Looking back at my time here, I have a couple of things to tell future Keys 2 Success students going to college.
First, what to expect?
You’ll meet so many new people. It’s insane how many you’ll talk to during the first few weeks of school. Don’t worry too much about “not feeling overwhelmed”, trust me everyone is in the beginning. Eventually, you’ll find people to consistently hang out with. Just remember to take your time in exploring everything around you.
Second, what will surprise you.
At least for the school, I’m going to, I feel so poor at times. Just listening to the schools my friends had gone to made me so inferior. I had friends telling me they went to private schools charging $16,000 per year! I feel the comment resonated so strongly with me because my own mother makes just under $30,000 per year. I thought I was used to understanding I didn’t have as much money as my peers, but this school finds a way to constantly remind me of that in several situations.
Third, what you’ll struggle with.
The class workloads in college can be no joke. I’m serious. As an Electrical Engineering major, it took a couple of weeks to adjust to just how much these classes expected to have done. The lengths of them are also an adjustment. (They can go up to 3 hours here!) My best advice to this is to just know that it’ll get easier. You’ll adjust soon, it just takes time. Don’t worry about keeping up with everyone else. Eventually, you’ll be your own genius at something.
Now finally, what can you do to prepare? Try looking up clubs before coming. Get yourself involved in your college’s community. Whether its academic or just for fun, the amount of connections you make is so valuable. Also, try practicing a bit of the skills required for your major of choice. For example, practice coding Python or C++ for computer science. In my experience, the introduction classes offered at colleges can be a bit rough for people who had no experience in the field beforehand. I say this with experience in my Introduction to Electrical Engineering class. The entire thing was Physics 2, which I had absolutely no experience with at all.
This may not specifically pertain to you, but try planning out a financial tracker of budgets. This should especially be followed if you’re also paying for your own tuition like me. I have one of my own just planning out how much I’ll save per month for my tuition.
That's all of the advice I have. Best of luck for everyone on their college journey!
Sincerely,
Eurydice
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About the Author: Eurydice Molina is a dedicated staff member at Keys 2 Success. She was part of the original cohort of Keys’ Urban Fellows program and is currently a freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she plans to major in Electrical Engineering. She is on a full scholarship, thanks partly to a grant from Kids in Business (Kinney Community Garden), a valued Keys 2 Success Newark community partner. Last summer, she shared her passion for all things technical and artistic by teaching coding at Keys 2 Success' summer camp, and being a part of the media team. She continues to support Keys 2 Success as the webmaster, database manager, and editor-in-chief for the monthly newsletter.
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Keys 2 Success revolutionizes music education by flipping the script on traditional models. Instead of waiting for students to seek lessons, we bring the music directly to them. Our unique approach prioritizes underserved communities often overlooked by mainstream educational programs. Through pure word-of-mouth, our impact speaks volumes, evident in the remarkable surge of students. Keys 2 Success has provided a much-needed haven for hundreds of students. As our enrollment continues to continue to grow each year, we are grateful for each one of you who has donated to make this possible. $300 provides piano lessons to a student for a month. Would you join us by becoming a monthly donor?
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