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Mi Young Shin
Mi-Young Shin (Music, '00) is one of the San Luis Obispo Tribune's Top 20 Under 40 awardees for 2016. In its 12th year, the award honors the accomplishments and achievements of young men and women under the age of 40 who have demonstrated excellence in their professions and a profound commitment to community service. An awards luncheon was held on Feb. 3 at the Madonna Inn. The guest speaker was Bill Swanson, retired chairman and CEO of defense contractor Raytheon.
Shin was music education director with the San Luis Obispo Symphony, where she has been a violinist on and off since 2005. She doubled the number of schools participating in the Strings in the Schools program, increasing enrollment by 57 percent, and added an additional ensemble for the Youth Symphony that engages 200 students weekly. She also oversaw the Music Van Programs. Together, the programs reach about 16,000 community members each year.
In January she resigned from the symphony in order to begin work as a social justice advocate using her passion for both music and social justice to bring awareness to — and motivate action among — concerned members of the community. She was accepted into the Leadership SLO program, and is very excited about the opportunity to become a better community leader.
She helps the homeless population through the Overflow and Prado Day Center programs and is a licensed foster-adopt family for San Luis Obispo County, among other efforts.
Shin has been taking cello lessons for about a year and loves the "student" perspective it brings. She recently released a 5-song album of original works on which she sings and plays guitar/violin with bandmate Trent Ellingsen on cajon. More information is available on the duo's website.
Mike Annuzzi
Mike Annuzzi (Music, '09) is a Silicon Valley-based music professional who visits the Central Coast regularly. He was a featured artist at the 2017 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) convention at the Anaheim Convention Center. He recently launched Music Accelerator, a blog-cast website that offers support to music professionals and aspiring professionals for career development in all aspects of the music industry. On March 19 in Paso Robles, he spoke on a panel for CC Music-Con (Central Coast Music Convention) on the topic of music distribution. Annuzzi attributes much of his knowledge in the music industry to the practical information he gained in Antonio G. Barata’s sound design classes and the annual RSVP productions.
Jon Hall
Jon Hall (Music, '10) was one of the leads in Lin Manuel-Miranda and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s “Millennials: The Musical,” which was released at the end of November.
Katelyn Tomasello
Katelyn Tomasello (Music and Psychology, ’16) has been named as a finalist to compete in the 31st Annual CSU Student Research Competition. The competition promotes excellence in undergraduate and graduate scholarly research and creative activity by recognizing outstanding student accomplishments throughout the 23 campuses of the California State University. Tomasello’s senior project, titled “How to Make the Jailhouse Rock: An Evaluation of Effective Music Therapy Methods Among Juvenile Offenders” — supervised by Alyson McLamore — was selected earlier this year by the College of Liberal Arts for consideration as one of Cal Poly’s entrants. On Feb. 18, Tomasello presented her work in a 10-minute oral presentation to a panel consisting of the Academic Senate Grants Review Committee. The committee chose 10 finalists to represent Cal Poly, from a slate of 38 students. Tomasello will now compete system-wide in the “interdisciplinary” category in the competition. The competition will take place April 28–29, on the Cal Poly campus. Best wishes to Katelyn!
Lenny Heifetz
Lenny Heifetz (English, '65) minored in music. His father Emanuel “Manny” R. Heifetz was hired in 1963 by then Music Department Head Harold P. Davidson to teach violin. Lenny transferred to Cal Poly from UCLA as a junior. He felt Cal Poly’s undergraduate program was far superior. He went with Marty Baum and the Jazz Band to Catalina Island, where he had a lot of fun. Heifetz went to France for a year under the State College Foreign Program, making him the first Mustang to go to France. He met the Fresno State winner of the “Year Abroad,” Bonnie Balatti, in Aix-en-Provence. They were married and recently celebrated their 49th anniversary. Heifetz has performed as a piano soloist for more than 6,000 events. One of his favorite experiences was playing for Ivanka Trump, when she visited Fresno in 2007. Though he graduated at the age of 20, he says the memories of Cal Poly will stay with him forever!
Stan Ketchum
Stan Ketchum (City and Regional Planning, '74) was in Men’s Glee Club (’69-74) and Majors and Minors (’70-74). He retired from the San Jose Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement in 2008. Since 2009 he has been working part-time in Gilroy’s Community Development Department. He plays guitar, violin and sings in a contemporary music group at the Good Samaritan Episcopal Church in San Jose. He and four other Majors and Minors alumni: Phil Terhorst, Chris Young, Harley Frazee and Keith Record had their first reunion in July, after 42 years! A great time was had by all!
Robert (Bob) Scofield
Robert (Bob) Scofield (Ornamental Horticulture, '53) was in the Concert Band, Marching Band and Collegians (’49-53). He moved to Houston, Texas, last year to be with his daughter after his wife of 64 years passed away. He is still looking for jazz players here in the area. He’s playing with a rock-n-roll group and a local community college concert band.