Rocky Point teen spreads the joys of violin and tennis

A Rocky Point teen who serves as his school’s orchestra concertmaster and varsity tennis captain is helping local children get more “in tune” with those disciplines.

Yuuki Donnelly, a senior at Rocky Point High School, organized both a violin summer camp and a community tennis day last year to help kids improve their skills and to inspire a love of sports and music. He also launched a donation program that has collected more than 800 items — including food, books and clothing — for the hunger relief organizations Island Harvest and Community Solidarity.

Donnelly, 17, was recognized for his community service with the Town of Brookhaven’s Youth Volunteer Award in November.

“I had never taught anyone, so I realized the joy of teaching people and watching them improve,” Donnelly said of his efforts. Of receiving the award, he said: “I was greatly honored; the first thing that I felt was the appreciation for everyone who supported me.”

Donnelly’s community tennis day, held last May, attracted about 50 elementary and middle schoolers, who participated in a “tennis obstacle course” and learned the basics of the sport, such as how to hold a racket and how to hit the ball. The program’s goal was to “expose them to the fun of tennis” since it didn’t seem to be as popular as other sports at his school, he said.

Meanwhile, the violin summer camp attracted about 15 children from four school districts — Longwood, Miller Place, Mount Sinai and Rocky Point — over four days last summer at the North Shore Youth Council in Rocky Point. That program’s goal was to “teach them the joy of music” and culminated with a concert for parents, Donnelly said.

“The purpose was to teach students without access to lessons,” said Donnelly, who instructed the campers with help from fellow senior Evan DeRosa.

Donnelly, who is vice president of his school’s Student Council, is also credited with spearheading the ongoing donation program. So far, the program has been held four times over the past year and collected more than 160 pounds of food, about 500 books and roughly 100 items of clothing, he said.

To spread the word about the program, Donnelly posts flyers throughout his school and shares information about it on the school’s social media accounts with help from Principal James Moeller, who called Donnelly a “a truly special young man.”

“The Town of Brookhaven made an excellent choice with their selection of Yuuki. Rocky Point could not be prouder,” Moeller said.

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.