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As the number of positive COVID cases on campus rose this week, Princeton University officials announced that all final exams for this semester will be held remotely.

The announcement was made Tuesday night by Dean Jill Dolan and Vice President for Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun in an effort to allow students to leave campus at their earliest convenience.

“Given that we’ve seen an uptick in cases among undergraduates during the last 24 hours — including suspected cases of the highly contagious omicron variant — we hope to avoid letting the final exam schedule interfere with students’ travel home for winter break,” Dolan and Calhoun said. “We certainly don’t want you remaining on campus in required isolation through the holidays.”

The announcement did not specifically say how many new positive cases there were on campus.

The state requires anyone who tests positive for COVID to isolate for 10 days, even if they are asymptomatic, Dolan and Calhoun said.

The remote final exam format will begin Thursday. In addition, all indoor gatherings with food and any gatherings where face coverings can’t be worn will be cancelled and postponed Thursday as well, school officials said.

The postponements/cancellations will be in effect through Jan. 7, but gathering guidance will also be revisited before that date, the university said.

Dolan and Calhoun added that a booster vaccination mandate will also be in effect next year for all students, faculty and staff.

“We’ll require all who are eligible to receive a booster by January 31, 2022,” the pair said. “We’ll share details about the requirement this week.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued expanded eligibility guidance on boosters that said many people 18 and older were eligible for one.

Everyone 18 and older in New Jersey who has received their second dose of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines six months ago or longer can get a booster shot. Anyone 18 and older who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is also eligible for a booster two months after their single shot.

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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.

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Princeton University’s Pace Center for Civic Engagementhas given serious and sustained thought to best practices for doing community service, much as organizations like Charity Navigator have encouraged donors of money to be more intentional about their giving.

Working with centers and departments across campus, the center prepares undergraduate and graduate students to serve well by making meaningful connections through learning, experience and reflection — an ethos that can help guide anyone interested in public service and volunteer work.

Here are six ways to engage in community service with purpose and intention, from the center, its University partners, and Princeton students making impact based on its foundational principles. The John H. Pace Jr. ‘39 Center for Engagement Field Guide to Service offers additional guidance on community service for volunteers, activists, voters and others.

1. Identify your values and skills

Understanding both the values and the skills that you bring to the table will help ensure that your service and civic engagement efforts are realistic and responsive, and can also help you communicate more effectively.

Some questions to ask:

• What motivates you?
• What was a time when you felt called to action, and what did you do?
• What skills do you have that would benefit your work?
• What skills do you need to improve on?
• What resources are available, and who do you know who could help you?
• Why are you seeking to engage in this project, group or activity?

 “We encourage people to continuously identify what they care about and why,” says Kimberly de los Santos, the John C. Bogle ’51 and Burton G. Malkiel *64 executive director of the Pace Center  “The purpose of knowing yourself and living truer to your values is to be able to better contribute to a world that is better for all of us.”

2. Understand the community 

To serve well and with impact, you’ll want to become informed about the community you are seeking to serve, its history and what issues are going on. Look to connect with established nonprofits, attend government meetings, read local news, talk with faith leaders and generally get to know people. 

“It’s important to know what the community’s needs are beforehand, because you can over-resource some communities or under-resource some communities,” says Duncan Harrison, Jr., assistant director of regional affairs in the Office of Community and Regional Affairs, which serves as the primary liaison between the University and the communities in which it resides. 

“My grandfather would always say, ‘You cannot teach what you don’t know, and you cannot show where you won’t go,” Harrison said. “When you’re entering a community, you want to be an explorer of value. You want to bring value, not really looking to take anything or get anything in return, but to help that community and really get to learn and understand that community.”

3. Align your vision with the needs of the community, and build your team

Acts of community service and civic engagement are made stronger when people come together, combine their assets and work toward a common vision. Asking these questions will help ensure that your service and civic engagement efforts have a positive impact:

• What is the issue you hope to address through your work?
• What is the community need your work will address, and what does this issue look like in real time for individuals and the community?
• What individuals and groups are already working on this issue?
• What resources will you use, and where will they come from?

“Don’t go into a community assuming that your solution is the right one, or assume that your way is the right way,” says Melssa Mercuro, associate director of community relations with the Office of Community and Regional Affairs. “Learning the history of the community and the different dynamics that go on is vital.”

4. Be flexible

Community needs and your ability to help fulfill them can change, especially in the midst of COVID-19.

Prior to the pandemic, Madison Mellinger, a junior studying public affairs and environmental studies at Princeton, and Kelton Chastulik, a graduate of the class of 2021, teamed up to start a holiday book drive to support local youth organizations in their hometown of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Mellinger and Chastulik paused their efforts at the start of the pandemic, and have since leaned in to listening deeply to reimagine how to continue the project, using lessons learned through their leadership roles with the Pace Center’s Student Volunteers Council.

“We are always looking to donate more books to more places, but this year I think the biggest goal is just to accomplish the project safely,” said Mellinger.

To do so, the team transitioned from having high school and community volunteers pick up book donations in-person to collaborating with local businesses and organizations to host book drop-off boxes instead.

5. Build and nurture relationships

Effective service and civic engagement involve building equitable partnerships and relationships,  grounded in open communication, accountability and acknowledgement of power dynamics.

For Brandon McNeely, a junior in the School of Public and International Affairs, communication has been a key part of his experience with the Young Scholars Institute (YSI), a nonprofit learning center in Trenton, New Jersey, that provides educational, cultural and recreational activities for students in preschool through grade 12. 

As volunteering with YSI has shifted from online tutoring at the start of the pandemic to in-person tutoring in the fall of 2021, it has meant keeping in touch regularly with YSI founder Jerri Morrison and the young people McNeely supports through the program. 

“It’s really been about open communication as much as possible, and the need to be flexible,” McNeely says. “When we were virtual, students were often at home, so we’d allow them to have their cameras off if they needed to, things like that. When we went back in person, it was really important this semester to take extra time to talk with Mrs. Morrison. I’ve learned so much about what she has done for the city of Trenton and about her own experiences.”

6. Reflect to better understand the problems you are passionate to solve

In service and civic engagement, learning often comes from experiences with peers and community. Reflection —  actively assessing what happened, why it matters and what to do moving forward — is critical to learning through service and civic engagement, and can spark new understanding.

Some questions to ask:

• What surprised you? What did you learn? 
• How have your assumptions been challenged through your experience? 
• What seems to be the root cause, or causes, of the social issue you’re addressing?
• What would you like to learn more about? 

Tara Carr-Lemke, associate director with the Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship (ProCES), says reflection offers a way for people to amplify their understanding of the social issues facing the world today — poverty, inequality, systemic discrimination and climate change, to name just a few.  

“When [students] engage with community members, organizational partners and practitioners who are actively seeking solutions to address these and other social issues, they have the opportunity to consider the theories they study within the classroom in potentially transformative ways,” she says. “These opportunities for observation, action and thoughtful reflection have the potential to shape their academic and professional pathways. New insights may spark new questions, which animate academic content, cultivate humility and enliven the spirit and mind for lifelong learning.”

Opportunities to engage

Now through Jan. 28, Princeton University staff, faculty, and undergraduate and graduate students can take part in Month of Service. Centered around understanding and addressing issues of food access and food insecurity, the month offers a range of activities both on and off campus, including virtual workshops and panel conversations, in-person service in the local community, a blanket donation drive and more. Beyond January, the Pace Center offers a range of opportunities for the University community. 

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The Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday will be observed Monday and dozens of communities around the state are marking it with a wide range of activities.

Many of the events this year will be virtual because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Traditionally, many MLK Day observances include community-service activities. Some refer to MLK Day as a day on, instead of a day off.

The holiday was first observed in 1986, three years after President Ronald Reagan signed it into law. It marks King’s birthday, January 15. It is observed annually on the third Monday in January.

King was a civil rights leader and prominent figure in ending legalized racial discrimination in the nation in the 1960s. King, 39, was killed by an assassin’s bullet in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968.

Here are some of the events this year around the state to honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

• Bloomfield: Saturday, 200 free prepared meals donated by local restaurants will be given out in the parking lot at the Carteret Elementary School from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
• Camden: “To honor the life and enduring legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., The city of Camden and its partners will be offering free COVID-19 drive-up testing along with walk-up vaccinations. Providers will be on-site offering other COVID related information, resources and counseling services.” Get more information.
• Galloway, Atlantic City, Hammonton: Stockton University’s Annual Day of Service: “It brings together over 900 students, community members, and community partners, and often encompasses over 25 projects.” Community members, partners, and alumni are encouraged to participate in remote projects for the day of service.
• Glassboro: Rowan University Alumni, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Breakfast and Day of Service: This virtual event Monday features remarks from 6 ABC Philadelphia anchor Rick Williams, and MSNBC host Tiffany D. Cross; $25, registration required.
• Greater Monmouth County: YMCA celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 33rd annual commemoration Friday in a virtual event this year. Andrea McChristian, law & policy director at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, is the keynote speaker.
• Morristown: Martin Luther King Observance Committee: “The Promise of the Dream: From Chaos to Community.” Virtual event.
• Ocean City: Ocean City will celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. noon Monday at the Ocean City Music Pier. The event remembers King through words, song and dance; highlights include recitation of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech by the Rev. Gregory Johnson; complimentary soul food buffet luncheon in the Music Pier solarium.
• Pemberton Township, Browns Mills: MLK Jr. Day of Service on Monday will have outdoor, socially distanced activities for volunteers of all ages (weather dependent); masks are required; walking around with trash bag to pick up trash along the trails (social distancing); help pick up fallen branches and prune stems along the trails (gloves, some tools provided); 120 West Whites Bogs Road #34, Browns Mills.
• Princeton: Annual multi-faith service to honor legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., co-sponsored by CFPA and the Princeton Clergy Association, 7 p.m. Monday. Virtual event: Meeting ID: 873 0157 9202, Passcode: 654926, Or dial in at 1 929 205 6099 US.
• Scotch Plains, Fanwood: MLK Day of Service 10 a.m. Monday; virtual online registration here.
• Westampton: 16th Annual MLK Day Challenge; Monday 10 a.m to 3 p.m. at the Burlington County Library, 5 Pioneer Blvd., Westampton. “The purpose is to encourage residents to join Americans across the country to honor King’s legacy of tolerance, peace, and equality by meeting community needs and making the holiday a day of community service. Thereby making MLK Day – A Day On, Not a Day Off.”
• West Windsor: The 4th annual MLK Day of Service; “West Windsor Arts is partnering with the African American Parent Support Group (AAPSG) and the WW-P youth chapter of the NAACP to create a ‘day on, not a day off.’” Monday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Get more information.

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Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Princeton Charter School recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Its charter was approved by the New Jersey Department of Education on January 15, 1997, and since then it has grown from a gathering of 72 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in the basement of the Nassau Presbyterian Church to a thriving K-8 school with 424 students on a seven-acre Bunn Drive campus. (Courtesy of Princeton Charter School)

By Donald Gilpin

The New Jersey Department of Education approved the charter for the Princeton Charter School (PCS) on January 15, 1997, and nine months later the school welcomed its first 72 students — fourth, fifth, and sixth graders only — in the basement of the Nassau Presbyterian Church.

With a vision of offering Princeton families a choice in public education with a particular focus on high academic standards and early immersive foreign language instruction, the school expanded over the years to include kindergarten to eighth grade and now, 25 years later, has 424 students. Since the first graduating class in 2000, more than 900 students have graduated from PCS, with the vast majority continuing their studies at Princeton High School (PHS).

“It is such a special, small community, and every day I am amazed by our talented, caring, and dedicated staff,” wrote PCS Head of School Lawrence Patton, who has been at the helm over the past 14 years. “Twenty-five years after the founding of the school, it remains my priority to bring smart, skilled, and experienced staff to work with our students and families. The partnership between the parents and the school has been woven into the fabric of Charter since the founding 25 years ago, and because of our small size and nine-year, K-8 structure, it continues to be a big part of who we are today.”

In a speech at last Friday’s anniversary celebration, PCS French teacher Martha Toma, one of the two teachers, along with English teacher Libby Kelley, who have been at PCS since the start, recalled some memories of the early days.

In its first year, the school moved to its current Bunn Drive campus, where there were only three classrooms. “But no one complained,” said Toma. “Everyone embraced the new adventure that was Charter. From the outset ours was a different kind of school. We were all pioneers in uncharted territory; we invented school supplies, we picked up apples from the school’s apple tree and made a pie, we had gym class at the skating rink, and we had school musicals in the Charter room [lunch room], transformed into a recital hall.”

Toma compared PCS to the apple pies they made. “Everything at Charter was made from scratch, with excellent ingredients, patience, and dedication,” she said.

Erin Redmond, who was one of the initial group of 72 students in 1997, is now the PCS school nurse. She recalled, “Unlike most schools, we did not have a gym, so for P.E. we went skiing, ice skating, swimming, and created memories that I will never forget. Although we did not have a gym, we were given even more opportunity to have new experiences and participate in different activities to promote learning, growth, health, and physical activity.”

She added, “I received such a great education here and know that the education I received here helped to guide me onto a path of success throughout high school and college.”

Admission to PCS is by a random lottery, limited to Princeton residents. Since 2020 the school has offered a weighted lottery for Princeton residents of limited financial means. Each year the school has a long waiting list of applicants, with 90 applying for just 38 spots in last year’s kindergarten class.

The campus now comprises six buildings: kindergarten through third grade; fourth and fifth grades; sixth through eighth; a cafeteria; a campus center with theater, gym, art studio, and music classroom; and an administration building.

PCS has also been the center of local controversy, most notably at its inception and again in 2017 and 2018, when it moved to expand its student body by 76 students. Princeton Public School (PPS) officials and others argued that increased PCS enrollment, requiring additional funds from PPS, would have severe effects on the district. The State Department of Education approved the PCS application, however, and the relationship between PPS and PCS seems to have been resolved on a positive footing.

“There’s no ‘us’ and ‘them,’” said Patton, pointing out that 42 out of 50 recent PCS graduates went on to PHS. “It’s ‘us’ and ‘us.’” He noted regular, positive, productive communication between PCS leaders and the PPS Board of Education over the past few years. “I’m very optimistic about our ongoing relationship with the district,” he added.

Reflecting on the 25-year milestone, Patton noted that PCS continues to be influenced by the spirit that inspired the founders. “That’s been a big accomplishment,” he said, “maintaining the urgency of the founders, that sense of importance in what we’re doing, to keep that alive in our staff and families 25 years later. We’ve been able to keep that in our new generation of teachers. They’ve internalized that sense of mission and I think that’s critical.”

Toma described PCS, which has been her second home since its inception 25 years ago, as “a public school that gives our community a choice, a school that blends a rigorous curriculum and a strong faculty to implement it, with high expectations and kindness, individual attention to students, and a touch of quirkiness. There is no place like Charter.”

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Princeton University will increase graduate fellowship and stipend rates by an average of 25% — to about $40,000 — for doctoral candidates for the upcoming 10-month academic year, officials announced Tuesday.

It is the university’s largest one-year increase in graduate student stipend rates, officials said. The increases will be funded from a combination of sources, including central budget funds supported by the university’s endowment.

Cole Crittenden, the acting dean of the Princeton Graduate School, called the increases “remarkable” in a news release.

“The increases in stipend rates will ensure Princeton continues to attract and retain the very best graduate candidates from all backgrounds and from all over the U.S. and the world,” he said.

Princeton guarantees funding for its enrolled, degree-seeking Ph.D. candidates for all years of regular program enrollment, according to a release. Funding covers tuition and fees, plus a base stipend for estimated living expenses.

Stipend rates were already competitive and had increased annually, Crittenden said.

The move comes just a little over two weeks after Columbia University’s graduate student workers reached a tentative agreement with the New York City-based school, after a 10-week strike. One of the deal’s features: a guaranteed minimum annual raise of 3%.

Princeton graduate students praised the news, with some speculating it can partly be attributed to the recent events from the neighboring Ivy League school.

Hunter Wade York, a second-year Ph.D. student in sociology at Princeton, said the news brings “financial freedom and not feeling like I’m wasting earning opportunities by being in a Ph.D. program,” instead of working in an industry.

“It’s definitely (spurred by) the recent actions by the Columbia University Student Union,” he added.

The increases will also help many students with housing costs, York said, as the university is located in a particularly expensive market within the state.

In Princeton, the median home is valued at $866,200 — more than double the amount for New Jersey as a whole — and the median rent is $1,532, according to census data.

Akrish Adhikari, a fourth-year student at Princeton earning his Ph.D. in French, said the increases will help more graduate students afford to live near the university. He also speculated the timing is related to Columbia University’s recent events.

“It’s not coincidental that two weeks after they ratified their contract that we suddenly got an increase that I’ve never heard about before,” he said.

For the upcoming 2022-23 academic year, the 10-month stipend rate for doctoral candidates will increase in the university’s four divisions as follows:

Natural Sciences and Engineering:

• Assistantship in Research stipend will increase from $31,720 to $40,000
• Assistantship in Instruction stipend will increase from $34,800 to $42,000
• University First-Year Fellowship will increase from $31,720 to $40,000

Humanities and Social Sciences:

• Assistantship in Instruction stipend will increase from $34,800 to $42,000
• University Fellowship will increase from $30,475 to $38,000

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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.

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On Friday, Jan. 29, a group of Princeton students with the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and the Office of Religious Life (ORL) traveled 45 minutes from campus to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL), often referred to as Fort Dix, a U.S. military base in New Jersey where more than 6,000 Afghan evacuees are still awaiting resettlement.

In JBMDL, Village 3, Tent 1, a 25-year-old Afghan evacuee asked students, “Who wants to help Afghan people?” Every member of the Princeton delegation raised their hand. 

According to Katherine Clifton ’15, an organizer of the trip from Princeton’s ORL, the eventual goal for the group is to launch a tutoring program for English and computer literacy that matches Afghan guests with Princeton students.

“The most important thing you can do for our people right now is to teach us English,” one of the Afghan panelists, Alin, said. 

The Daily Princetonian gave all the quoted Afghan panelists pseudonyms, including Alin, for the purposes of this piece in an effort to protect the safety of the individuals’ family members still in Afghanistan.

As part of Operation Allies Welcome, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. military have transformed areas of Fort Dix into a makeshift society, with on-site medical care and three residential sections, or “villages.” Each village has a U.S. military “mayor,” prayer rooms, and educational programming. More than 20,000 Afghan guests, as they are officially referred to by Fort Dix officials, have passed through the villages since August 2021.

Students were transported by a government bus to Village 3 — the largest of the three settlements. There, students were permitted to interact with any Afghan evacuee interested in higher education. In addition to casual conversations, formal programming included a panel of Afghan guests, moderated by Amaney Jamal, Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and a Q&A with Brett Dreyer, the Department of Homeland Security’s deputy federal coordinator for Operation Allies Welcome at JBMDL.

Dean Jamal introduced the Afghan panelists — pseudonymously, Zaria, Aliya, and Alin — and commended them for their perseverance and patience. Jamal, herself an immigrant to the United States from Palestine, said she felt deep empathy for their trauma, guilt, and sadness from leaving their country.

Kennedy Walls ’24, a sophomore studying medical anthropology, told the ‘Prince’ she was particularly “enthralled” by Zaria’s story. Zaria was as an Afghan medical student who fled from Kabul to Qatar in August, before arriving at Fort Dix. She told the students that her dream was to complete her higher education and become a professor.

“What motivates me most is my family back in Afghanistan. They all have the same experiences as me, but they are not here,” Zaria said at the panel. “The opportunities that my sisters, similar to me but younger and smarter, do not have, I would like to use that to at least put a smile on their lips.”

Jamal ended the session by asking the panelists whether they had any questions for the Princeton students. Zaria did not have a question. Instead, she said to the students: “Don’t forget Afghanistan.”

“Those words really stuck with me,” Walls told the ‘Prince.’ “With how news and media [are] today, it’s easy to latch onto a story then let it fade away, but here we saw that the lives of Afghan refugees have been changed forever.”

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On the opposite side of the room, Afghan children sat in rows on gym mats while watching television. Some did not understand the English animations, but their eyes were captivated. Three airmen watched over the children; one was Johana Aguilar, a technical sergeant in her 12th year of active duty in the air force, who immigrated to the United States from Panama. 

“I can really identify with the guests because I was once there,” Aguilar said. “I tell the ladies to watch television, because that’s how I learned English, by watching cartoons with my kid.”

“Everyone was so eager to learn that they copied down everything I wrote on the whiteboard,” said Homiera Walter, one of several United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) volunteers at the base, who taught English at Fort Dix. 

Walter herself left Afghanistan when she was seven years old; as a resident of New Jersey, she wanted to find a way to give back to Afghan evacuees and now volunteers at Fort Dix through USCCB.

“Any Afghan woman would give their lives to get their children educated,” Walter added, “because education has been taken away from them far too many times.”

According to Walter, the education system for evacuees was extremely ad hoc when she first started volunteering in October. “There were different formulas for every base. Even in Fort Dix, the education in Village 1 was only run by Afghan guests until a month ago,” Walter said.

According to Dreyer, every week, resources and living conditions are constantly improving for the guests, where “drop by drop the river builds.” 

“At first the tents did not have heating,” said Dreyer, the Homeland Security official. Tents are now fully heated and insulated. Initially, the Fort Dix healthcare was reliant on local New Jersey hospitals. “We have since built a hospital with nearly 100 staff on base,” Dreyer added. Since January, evacuees can now also reserve laptop time to access computers. 

Dreyer also recognized that the operation has not been without challenges, including a measles outbreak and a stillborn baby in the hospital. 

“A part of the reason we are engaging with institutions like Princeton is to chip away at the enormous strain on resettlement agencies,” said Adriel Taslim, the DHS Vocational Training Lead. In addition to USCCB and Princeton, Taslim also organized educational events from Verizon and Google on Friday.

“The experience instilled in me a duty to help,” Walls said. “My biggest takeaway from listening to the guests is that at the heart of what they want is not personal success, but to help uplift other Afghans.”

According to Clifton, Princeton could start sending students to tutor Afghan guests as soon as next Friday, Feb. 11. 

Edward Tian is a news and features writer who experiments with data-driven and alternative story format (ASF) reporting. He can be reached on Twitter @edward_the6.

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Winter weather be damned! The Princeton Symphony Orchestra begins its spring season this weekend at Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall on the campus of Princeton University, with full COVID safety measures in place, of course.

It marks the first time in two years that The Princeton Symphony Orchestra has graced the stage at Richardson. Some members of the brass and percussion sections had performed an outdoor concert on Palmer Square in October 2020.

Kenneth Bean, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s recently appointed Georg and Joyce Albers-Schonberg Assistant Conductor, leads the orchestra for both concerts, one on Saturday night and the other on Sunday afternoon.

“I was drawn to the piano, you know, playing at my grandmother’s house,” Bean said in a recent interview with NJ.com. “But then in school, I was introduced to the trumpet … You know, playing the trumpet, being around all my friends and just having that experience of just getting better and better at the instrument was great.”

Throughout high school and college, Bean’s musical horizons expanded and he gained “at least a very basic level of proficiency on lots of instruments from each family.”

Bean is a conductor but also an educator, with a strong connection in his musical life with young people. His resume includes serving as conductor of the Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey’s Symphonic Orchestra, Junior String Philharmonic and Young People’s Philharmonic, both of Lehigh Valley.

And he currently serves as assistant conductor of the Symphony in C Youth Orchestra in Collingswood and director/conductor of the Young Musicians Debut Orchestra of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute.

“During my college years, I was able to get my first conducting appointment of assistant conductor of the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra,” he said. “And I was very happy to get that position because I was able to really start giving back in the way that my teachers instilled this knowledge and this love of music in me.”

A 2016 industry-wide study by The League of American Orchestras reports that African-Americans make up 1.8 percent of orchestras nationwide, so for Bean, being a conductor of color really means something to him. “Absolutely it does,” he said. And again for him, it relates back to his calling of working with young people.

“We all know. It’s not something that you see every day,” he said. “A leadership role in front of an orchestra – it’s just not something many Black people are doing. So as an educator being in front of all these youth orchestras, I feel like it’s doing them quite a big service.”

He believes that seeing a person of color at the podium will help young people change their mindset and be able “to expect women, to expect Black people, to expect brown people, to expect any one to be able to step into this sort of role and just not having it be just like a white-oriented or white-led field.

“I think it’s very important that I’m able to do this,” he said.

The two concerts also mark the PSO debut of violinist Alexi Kenney, presenting his interpretation of Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto.

Bean called Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto one of his favorites, which he has performed for many years as a trumpet player in orchestras.

Also on the program will be Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A Minor, Op. 33 and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”

Bean was keen to include those two works, he says, because of the relationship between the two composers. “Dvořák was a big, big influence on Coleridge-Taylor,” he said.

“From the New World” provides a window into Dvořák’s interpretations of musical elements he encountered during visits to the United States in the late 19th century. And the present-day meaning of the title isn’t lost on the conductor.

“We’re coming out of this pandemic era into really, this new world,” Bean said. “So just like that sort of idea, the new world symphony ushering in this new era that we find ourselves in. That sort of combined message is what I had in mind.”

Tickets for the Feb. 6 performance at Richardson Auditorium start at $20, youth (ages 5-17) are half price, and may be ordered through the Princeton Symphony Orchestra website or by calling 609-497-0020.

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Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com