Hawai‘i Youth Symphony

Every HYS student knows what it feels like to walk off stage after a performance. The applause fades, the adrenaline settles, and life goes on. But for high school upperclassmen standing at the edge of graduation, a bigger question starts to take shape: what comes next?

It’s a question that doesn’t always have an easy answer…especially for students who love music and aren’t sure whether or how it fits into their future. Most high schools simply don’t have the infrastructure to support those conversations. When only a handful of students in a school are seriously pursuing music, there’s rarely a dedicated space to talk about conservatory auditions, music degrees, FAFSA applications, or what a career in the arts actually looks like. HYS saw that gap and decided to fill it.

That’s how B# = C Success was born.

Launched in the fall of 2024 with support from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, B# = C Success is a free workshop series designed to help students and families navigate the road to higher education, while considering music as the entry point and the community as the guide. As COO Rachel Schultz puts it, the spark came from a practical problem: “The Hawaiʻi Community Foundation called on some of their partners to help get the word out because they found that a lot of students in Hawaiʻi were not making use of the FAFSA. They’re leaving money on the table.”

HYS’ response was characteristically creative. Rather than simply hosting a financial aid information session, we wrapped it in something more compelling: live music, real stories, and genuine conversation.

Each workshop features a short performance by professional musicians, followed by a facilitated Q&A where attendees can ask about their paths: how they got there, what they studied, what they wish they’d known. From there, a presentation covers the FAFSA, scholarships, and other financial aid resources available to students pursuing higher education. And, of course, there are snacks!

One of the most important things B# = C Success communicates is that there’s no single right way to pursue a future in music, or a future informed by music. “Our sessions usually feature young professionals or pre-professionals,” Rachel explains, “and the idea is for musicians or any student to learn that there’s no one set path.”

Past presenters have included musicians pursuing conservatory degrees, students at community colleges, professionals with military connections through the National Guard, and artists navigating the industry in ways that defy easy categorization. The message is consistent: your background as a musician is an asset, regardless of where you’re headed.

Honor Hickman, a PMI 2025 OLA Fellow, shared her experience participating in the workshop: “We got to talk about our path in music, where we started and where we are currently at at the moment. We answered questions about the logistics of what auditioning for a music school or conservatory is like. And we chatted about different options if you don’t necessarily want to pursue a music path but want to keep music in your life.”

President and CEO Randy Wong sees this as a natural extension of HYS’ mission. “When we think about music as a right, we talk a lot about it in the K-12 space,” he says, “but when you think about going on to college, the expenses increase exponentially. But actually, so does the financial opportunity. There are millions and millions of dollars of resources out there.” B# = C Success exists to help students find and access those resources.

B# = C Success workshops are fully open to the public (you don’t have to be an HYS student to attend!). It’s designed for any high school upperclassman, parent, school administrator, or community member who wants to better understand what’s possible after graduation.

In 2025, B# = C Success expanded into the Pacific Music Institute summer program, bringing the workshop directly to students in the middle of an intensive week of music-making. It was a natural fit where students were already thinking seriously about their craft and were given a space to think seriously about their futures.

The workshops also leverage collaborations with visiting guest artists presented by the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, HYS students participated in a B# = C Success workshop connected to The Waitiki 7’s appearance with the HSO. Led by HYS alumni Randy Wong and Abe Lagrimas Jr., the workshop brought together an exceptional team of artists and creative professionals, including GRAMMY-winning jazz pianist Zaccai Curtis, violinist Helen Liu, former New York Times podcast and audio director Corey Schreppel, Berklee College of Music faculty member Tim Mayer, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra timpanist Jim Benoit. Attendees gained direct access and insight to a wide range of professional perspectives in performance, education, production, and media—stories of career development that are invaluable for aspiring young musicians and their families.

B# = C Success is rooted in the same belief that drives everything HYS does: that access to opportunity should never be determined by what someone can afford or what resources happened to be available to them. “Just like we believe that music is a right,” Rachel says, “we believe that if people want to pursue higher education or learn more about options available to them, it’s our responsibility, our duty, to help them find that out.”

For the students who attend, the takeaway isn’t just information about the FAFSA or a list of scholarships. It’s something harder to quantify: the experience of sitting across from someone who looks a little like you, who loves music the way you do, and who figured out how to build a life around it. That kind of inspiration doesn’t show up on a college application, but it has a way of changing everything.