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Aspiring pianist finds time to
help
BY
SIMONA BOST
Thursday, May 25,
2006 2:36 PM CDT
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THE QUEENS
COURIER/PHOTO BY BRYAN PACE
An aspiring pianist,
Chris Scherna spends much of his time during the summer
working with Jazz for Peace, a non-profit organization
that performs benefit concerts for other groups in need
of funding. Scherna’s role it to find the local
organizations that the concerts raise money for.
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kids his age, Chris Scherna’s ears don’t perk up at the sounds
of rock bands like Maroon 5 or hip-hop artists such as 50
Cent. For him, it is Oscar Peterson, a renowned Canadian jazz
pianist that sets his toes a tapping.
A junior with a
91.5 average at Townsend Harris High School in Flushing,
Scherna spends his spare time uniting the world through jazz.
A pianist, Scherna hails from a long line of musicians; his
grandfather, Frank Hays, was a jazz pianist and his uncle,
Kevin Hays, is a well-known pianist in Europe.
Given
this family background, Scherna was destined to discover Jazz
for Peace, a non-profit organization that performs benefit
concerts to help raise funds for fellow non-profit
organizations, while he was searching for volunteer
extracurricular activities to impress admissions counselors
for college. Scherna doesn’t take part in the actual concerts.
His role is to find the local organizations in need of funding
that the concerts raise money for.
“I’m proud to be
able to say that I’m doing meaningful volunteer work and that
I’m giving back to the community directly,” he said. “I enjoy
doing it. It’s cool being able to go to concerts that you
helped organize.”
Founded by Rick DellaRatta in 2001,
Jazz for Peace had an impressive debut; DellaRatta led an
ensemble comprised of Israelis, Palestinians, Asians, and
European jazz musicians at the United Nations.
DellaRatta
has been especially impressed with Scherna. “Chris stands
apart as a lot of young people don’t understand the importance
of our country’s greatest art form - jazz,” he
said.
Driven to experience all the world has to offer,
Scherna’s exceptional academic record has garnered him
invitations to several International Conferences and
Summits.
When he was 14 years of age, Scherna went to
the United Peace Summit- International Day of Peace. Thirty
kids from all over the globe - including students from France,
Israel, and Japan - met to learn and discuss various
international issues and dilemmas.
It was there that
Scherna discovered that despite differences in religion and
cultures people “have one goal and that is to come
together.”
Recently Scherna, a Holliswood resident,
returned from two-and-a-half weeks in Ankara, Turkey. He was
one of six kids chosen at Townsend Harris for the Linking
Individuals, Knowledge, & Culture (LINC) Program sponsored
by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs Department to encourage understanding between
different cultures and countries.
“Amazing,” Scherna
said of the trip overseas. “I knew nothing about Turkey. I
only knew that it was 99% Muslim and it borders Iraq, Iran,
and Syria.”
He was struck by how modern Istanbul is. He
did not expect to see commercial strips like those in the New
York City metropolitan area, “though they were much quieter,
and not as busy,” he noted.
Scherna was surprised to
discover that Turkey was a democracy - separated by church and
state. Relying on images in the American media, he expected it
to be a very religious country ruled by Muslim
theology.
Considering his myriad experiences thus far,
it is no wonder that Scherna’s future aspirations are just as
broad. He is uncertain but is considering a career in physics,
chemistry, or politics. As it stands, Scherna is already a
musician, world traveler, and peacemaker and he has not even
graduated yet.
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