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Music is important to Palmer Trinity School junior Walker Ciorobea so he eagerly joined his friend Florencia Nieto when she wanted to start a community service organization called Melody Initiatives.
“Our mission statement is serving the underprivileged youth through the arts,” he says. “Especially music.”
They have partnered with the Miami Music Project, a non-profit that gives children an opportunity to play their music after school for three to four hours. The children are bused to a variety of locations where they have rehearsal facilities after school. They play music, do homework, and prepare for concerts.
“We are helping the Miami Music Project in different ways,” he says.
The rehearsal facilities are frequently in the northern part of Miami-Dade County in low-income areas.
“We’ve worked with them on helping to set up a concert,” he says. “We helped with Instagram. We shot pre-concert videos. This was for their Winter Concert. We made a bunch of content for them for Instagram. We interviewed a few of the players. I took videos of them. They played Rhapsody in Blue. They were so good! Just being there at the concert. It was so great.”
One of the ways Melody Initiatives members help is by raising money for the Miami Music Project. They recently had a successful thrift sale at Palmer’s annual International Festival.
“We sold a bunch of vinyls and CDs,” he says. “Music themed clothes were big. It was such a success we plan to have another one late in the second semester.”
They’ve also hosted bakes sales with all the money donated to the Miami Music Project.
Music is a big part of Ciorobea’s life. He has been in the Palmer Trinity band since sixth grade. He plays the baritone horn, also known as the euphonium.
“I think music is such an important and integral part of high school,” he says. “It’s really sad what’s happening with the music programs in public schools. I feel so privileged to be able to go to Palmer Trinity.”
He feels that way not only about the music program, but the ability to go to exotic and exciting places for Model United Nations conferences.
“Just imagine, I was able to go to India as a junior in high school to debate diplomacy with students around the world,” he says.
He was in awe when they had a chance to see the Taj Mahal in real life.
He’s been in Model UN since ninth grade and has gone to the Hauge twice, Lisbon as well as India. He’s expecting to return to the Hauge again next January.
He’s done well at the conferences. He was named Best Delegate in the General Assembly at his first conference.
At school, he is a Student Ambassador. He leads tours for families who are considering enrolling a child at the school.
I’m one of three head chairs,” he says. “I’ve gone to every single tour but one. I’m marketing Palmer Trinity as their best option.”
He’s also involved in Palmer Trinity’s Mosaic Program.
The Mosaic students go to homerooms to give informative lessons on global events. They cover topics such as the stigma of homelessness, and how to help the people whose homes were lost during natural disasters.
“We had one of African American History Month,” he says. “We are making sure that we consider ourselves part of the global community. I am a seventh grade Mosaic advisor.”
For college, he’s looking to major in International Relations or Political Science. His college list isn’t extensive yet – he considering applying to Duke, the University of Richmond, and Tufts University.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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