Leucadia 101 awards high school seniors with scholarships

On Thursday, May 24, Leucadia 101 Main Street Association awarded three graduating seniors from San Dieguito Academy with $500 scholarships. The three scholarships were awarded to Lizzie Waters, Jin Li Mirow and AJ Schumann for their continuing leadership and involvement in music. The money was raised at last year’s Summer Fun on the 101 Music Festival, hosted by Leucadia 101 Main Street. The event takes place again this year on Saturday, June 23 at Leucadia Roadside Park.

One of this year’s music scholarship recipients, AJ Schumann, HAS performed at Summer Fun on the 101 with his band Rubenstein Drive-by. His passion for performing live has led him to play keys with two additional bands this year. One of his most notable gigs was a house show where AJ and his friends raised over $1,000 to help pay medical costs for a teacher who was undergoing surgery. AJ plans to major in Music Theory and Composition at UC Santa Cruz and hopes to one day compose film scores.

Scholarship recipient Lizzie Waters has also performed at multiple Leucadia 101 events such as the Battle of the Bands and the LeucadiART Walk. Her singer-songwriter performances throughout the community have gained Lizzie plenty of enthusiastic fans. The father of a young boy told Lizzie that her performance had made the boy to want to become a musician when he grew up. This inspired Lizzie to continue spreading the joy of music by teaching guitar to elementary school-aged children.

Music scholarship winner Jin Li Mirow didn’t always love her piano lessons growing up, but her perseverance paid off. After years of hard work in the Certificate of Merit performance program, Jin Li has made it to level 8 of 10 and developed a profound love of the piano. She has performed at the Encinitas Library and thoroughly enjoyed her AP Music Theory class at SDA where the homework felt more like fun.

“It’s so awesome to see how Summer Fun on the 101 completes a full circle of support within the Encinitas music community. Before the event, we host a youth Battle of the Bands, and the winner of that gets to play on stage at Summer Fun on the 101 in front of a huge crowd. At Summer Fun we raise scholarship money for seniors going on to study music. We look forward to the day that these students come back to perform at our community events as educated masters of their craft,” said Leucadia 101 Executive Director Kellie Hinze.

The Leucadia 101 Main Street Association invites all to hear SDA alumni Emily Afton, Ginger Roots & the Protectors, and Stephanie Brown & the Surrealistics and to raise money for the future maestros of our community at this year’s Summer Fun on the 101, June 23 at Leucadia Roadside Park (860 North Coast Highway 101) from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.