{"id":120347,"date":"2021-05-27T12:50:23","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T16:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=120347"},"modified":"2021-06-11T10:54:36","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T14:54:36","slug":"ucf-professor-gives-gift-of-music-to-underserved-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-professor-gives-gift-of-music-to-underserved-students\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Professor Gives Gift of Music to Underserved Students"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Chung Park, music was his saving grace.<\/p>\n

Raised by a single mother along with two siblings in the big city of Chicago, the UCF Symphony Orchestra director began going down a dead-end path in high school. Life at home was chaotic, and he didn\u2019t like school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt aimless,\u201d he says. \u201cMy compass wasn\u2019t focused in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was until his music instructors helped guide him back on track.<\/p>\n

Park is now an associate professor of music, director of string music education and director of symphony and chamber orchestras in the College of Arts and Humanities. But beyond his day job, he\u2019s also the education coordinator of A Gift For Music, a local program under the umbrella of A Gift For Teaching, founded on the idea that all children should have access to the life-changing benefits of a quality music education regardless of their socioeconomic status.<\/p>\n

All the kids that A Gift For Music serves attend an Orange County Title I elementary, middle or high school or qualify for free or reduced lunch.<\/p>\n

For Park, this program is personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the power of music,\u201d he says. \u201cIt can keep kids in school who may otherwise fall off the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past four years, he\u2019s spent most of his Saturdays conducting free orchestra practice for about 100 students. Behind the scenes, though, he\u2019s orchestrated much more; he\u2019s also created a seamless pipeline from UCF to A Gift For Music.<\/p>\n

He teaches college students and then places them in instructor roles in the program, where students learn how to play string instruments. It\u2019s a win-win; students earn pay and real-world experience, and the organization has an endless pipeline of eager instructors who help expose the younger students to college \u2013 something that children from underserved communities don\u2019t always have.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chance to learn from Chung and give back to A Gift For Music is one of the reasons I\u2019m going to UCF for graduate school in the fall.\u201d \u2014 Cesar Olmeda<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe chance to learn from Chung and give back to A Gift For Music is one of the reasons I\u2019m going to UCF for graduate school<\/a> in the fall,\u201d says Cesar Olmeda, a bass player, who got involved with A Gift For Music when he was in third grade at Ventura Elementary School. \u201cWithout A Gift For Music, I wouldn\u2019t be where I am right now as a musician.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olmeda entered A Gift For Music as a violin player. He was introduced to bass as he progressed from the free after-school weekday music lessons to the Saturday orchestra practices. He is just one of hundreds of students that A Gift For Music has seen go on to college.<\/p>\n

About 90 percent of graduates of A Gift For Music go to college, says Park, even though students from Title I schools \u2014 where at least 40 percent of students are from low-income families \u2014 are less likely to advance beyond high school. In 2016, about 20 percent of dependent undergraduate students in the United States were from low-income families, according to the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Gift For Music provides a sense of security for these kids. It\u2019s a place where they can talk about ambitions, good grades and can be around like-minded people,\u201d Park says.<\/p>\n

During Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this May \u2014 and every month \u2014 Park recognizes the importance of representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is sometimes easier when you come from certain backgrounds. It\u2019s so important that there are people of color in prominent roles because if we don\u2019t exist then people who come after us don\u2019t think they can do it,\u201d Park says. \u201cI get chills just thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students at local Title I schools get a free music education through the local non-profit organization A Gift For Music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":120348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[3,5,6,18],"tags":[15146,17023,1646,14751,35966,15761,18234],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-120347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-colleges","category-community","category-music","tag-chung-park","tag-college-of-arts-and-humanities","tag-faculty","tag-faculty-excellence","tag-inclusive-excellence","tag-pegasus-briefs","tag-ucf-symphony-orchestra"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Professor Gives Gift of Music to Underserved Students<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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