Usdan Center Awards 5 Music Scholarships to Long Island Teens

One of these students is 18-year-old Karina Aristy of Westbury, who already has played the violin for a decade and performed with the likes of the Long Island Philharmonic. Aristy recalls her interest in the string instrument beginning around age 3. "I used to pick up a stick and pretend it was a violin and play it," she says. Now a counselor at the Usdan Center, Aristy says she hopes to make music her career as she gears up to study music education at Long Island University's C.W. Post Campus in the fall. 

Other scholarship winners include Justin Cheung of Commack, Matthew Mantione of Port Jefferson, Alon Simpson of Bay Shore, and Kirsten Schmidt of North Massapequa. All five scholars are set to perform at Usdan's Band IV Concert, a mid-summer camp concert, on July 20.