Daniel Young plays violin for students of the Renaissance Learning Center, a charter school for children with autism spectrum disorders in West Palm Beach. Photo by Jerry Lower
By Liz Best
If music makes the man, Daniel Young is headed for one doozy of an adulthood.
It doesn’t hurt his future prospects any that he’s also an excellent student, wants to be a doctor someday and just may be one of the most philanthropic 14-year-olds you’re ever likely to meet.
A few years ago, Young, of Gulf Stream, combined a love of the violin with his interest in helping others. The recipients of his efforts are the students and staff at the Renaissance Learning Center in West Palm Beach, a nonprofit charter school for children with autism spectrum disorders.
The center’s principal and executive director, Debra Johnson, loves the story of how Young became interested in raising money and donating his time and talents to the cause. It stems back to a telethon he saw on television which was aired to help raise awareness about autism.
“Daniel watched it and told his parents he wanted to do something about it,” she said.
It’s just that simple and the rest is history. His parents, Bettina and Greg, called the school and said that their son wanted to help.
Young first came up with the idea of hiring himself out to perform Valentine’s Day serenades to raise money for the school.
Later, he enlisted the help of other musicians and formed an ensemble that performs at fundraisers. Even though Renaissance receives funding from the school district, it supplements that money through private donations and grants.
An eighth-grader at Gulf Stream School, Young doesn’t limit his contributions only to raising money. On school holidays he often brings his violin to Renaissance and either works with the music therapist or goes from classroom to classroom performing everything from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to Vivaldi.
The children, ranging in age from 3 to 14, are mesmerized, even those who are nonverbal. Young seems to have figured out that music is a universal language with the power to break through seemingly insurmountable barriers.
“It’s amazing how we can communicate through music,” he said, adding that hearing music can change the entire mood in a classroom of autistic children. “It can calm them down.”
Young has been studying music for most of his life. He remembers getting his hands on a violin for the first time when he and his family were at a family reunion.
“I think I was about 3 and I found one of those toy violins,” he said. “I kept talking about it so my mom got me lessons.”
Young doesn’t seem to suffer from a shortage of ideas. One of his latest projects for Renaissance is to collect old iPods and laptops and donate them to the center.
Johnson says that Young’s idea is right on the money since many autistic children find ways to communicate through electronic devices.
“This is really the wave of the future for autism,” Johnson said.
For this teenager, it was a no-brainer when a new generation of iPods hit the market.“I thought folks would have all these old iPods when the new ones came out and they would just throw them away,” Young said.
As for his own iPod, Young believes he has no fewer than 1,000 songs downloaded and his tastes cover just about every musical genre.
When he’s not playing sports, doing homework or practicing his violin, Young fills his time by teaching himself to play guitar or hanging out with his four siblings and friends.
Despite his affinity for music, Young doesn’t see himself becoming a professional musician. Instead, he wants to turn his knack for math and science into a medical degree. But it’s unlikely he’ll ever cast aside his trusty violin.
“I think I’ll always want to play my violin no matter
what I do in the future.”
For more information on the Renaissance Learning Center, or to donate an iPod or similar device, call (561) 640-0270 or visit www.rlc2000.com online.
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