Thanks to a charitable grant from Bethpage Federal Credit Union, for the third year in a row, five top Long Island music students will have the opportunity to study and perform this summer at Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts.

The Usdan Center/Bethpage Scholars in the Arts program, developed by Usdan Center in 2011, is supported with a charitable grant from Bethpage Federal Credit Union and gives talented students the opportunity to study at the country’s largest not-for-profit summer arts day camp.

“We are proud to partner with Bethpage Federal Credit Union, one of our region’s preeminent leaders in community service and corporate philanthropy. We are grateful to Kirk Kordeleski, President and CEO, and his staff for their generous support of five of Long Island’s top student musicians,” said Usdan executive director Dale Lewis.

Each of the five students, chosen for their talent and their achievements as outstanding representatives of their communities, has been "adopted" by a Bethpage branch manager and will represent his or her local branch as a member of one of Usdan's bands, choruses, or orchestras.

Sponsored by Bethpage's Huntington branch, Jordan Williams, a junior at Elwood John Glenn High School, will study trumpet and chorus band. Cara Jacobson, a junior at Half Hollow Hills East High School, is sponsored by the credit union's Melville branch and will perform with the senior chorus and the Select Chamber Choir. Abraham Pierre, an eighth grade student at Robert Moses Middle School is sponsored by the North Babylon branch and will study tenor saxophone and perform in one of the jazz ensembles.

The credit union’s Commack branch sponsored Joseph Tanay-Noto, a junior at Commack High School, who will perform with the orchestra and senior chorus. Jordi Ariel Lotito a senior at WT Clarke High School, is sponsored by the Levittown branch and will perform with Orchestra IV and the senior chorus.

Since 1968, the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts has been providing summer programs to help children at all levels of ability to explore and develop their artistic skills and to embrace the arts as a companion for life. Working with professional faculty and participating in public performances and exhibits, Usdan welcomes each student to "Lose yourself for a summer, and find yourself for a lifetime."

What is your opinion of this program? Include your comments below or on our Long Island Living Discussion Forum.

[Source: Usdan Center]