Yasan loves to sing. “Singing is my true language,” she says. “It’s how I express my feelings, how I show myself to the world—it’s how I share the glory of my Savior with anyone who can hear it.” Yasan’s passion for song emerged as a young child, and her parents found joy in cultivating her gift.
Yasan’s Jamaican and Chinese family represents a beautifully unique heritage of race and culture, which guides her eclectic musical pursuits. She early learned to love reggae and says, “Reggae is music from the spirit—it’s music for the people, it tells our stories and speaks to the soul.” Along with her sisters, Gabriella and Abigail, Yasan sings in a reggae group, and they have even been honored to open for Grammy-nominated reggae artist Luciano. “Our hope is to bring the voice of Christ to reggae,” she says, “to everyone who hears us.”
Yasan is also a freshman at The City School, where her musical talents have been nurtured, refined, and diversified under the wing of Choir Director Ruth Naomi Floyd. “I sing hymns, gospel, folk songs, opera—I am learning to find my voice in many genres.” A few weeks ago, Yasan and Ms. Floyd were rehearsing soprano notes with a few other students in Tenth’s sanctuary. The joy of their singing rang out through the church, and Colin Howland, Music Director at Tenth, was in awe and intrigued.
“One voice captured my attention,” Colin remembers. “She was hitting these very high notes, and perfectly in tune. I was impressed because that kind of talent is rarely found in someone so young.” Colin later asked Ms. Floyd about the voice, and she introduced him to Yasan. Excited to share her gifts with the Tenth family, Colin invited Yasan to perform alongside Ruth Naomi Floyd on a Sunday morning.
Yasan and Ruth will be providing the special music for the morning services on Sunday, April 17. Their selections will include the African American spiritual, “I Love the Lord,” arranged by Richard Smallwood and popularized by Whitney Houston.
At The City School, Yasan is known as more than a gifted vocalist. Our “One Child at a Time” philosophy means we are committed to knowing, teaching, and loving each student as an individual with unique passions, talents, interests, strengths, and dreams. Yasan is a cheerleader and track star, a guitarist and fledgling pianist, an artist with a penchant for pastels, a Sunday school teacher and Bible camp counselor, a storyteller, a fashionista and a tomboy, an honor roll student, an adventurous at-home chef with a love for exotic fusion cuisine, and a Christian.
Yasan has found her voice at The City School. She has discovered the glorious and endlessly diverse language of music and has made it her own, but more than that: she has uncovered who she is. She has learned to see herself as a young woman knit together in the image of a loving God. She defines herself by the love of her Savior. She strives to see God’s glory in every class—under the microscope, in the elegance of an algebraic equation, writ large through the pages of history, or through the gift of music.
The City School is a place where students’ gifts are cultivated, celebrated, and shared to the glory of God. Thank you for letting us share Yasan’s passion and talent with you. Thank you for seeing in our students what God sees in them: talent, passion, beauty, goodness, boundless potential—representatives of his kingdom in our city. Thank you for hearing Yasan’s voice.
Are you looking for a rigorous, Jesus-honoring education in the city? The City School is a place your children will thrive. Please read more about us at cityschool.org and reach out to us at admissions@cityschool.org for more information. We have open houses at all four campuses this week. We would love to welcome you to The City School family.
We’d like to thank the leadership and congregation of Tenth for your decades of faithful partnership. You help us provide young people in the city the opportunity to learn in a place where they are loved and Jesus is glorified. If you are interested in seeing firsthand the work of The City School, please join us for one of our bimonthly Spotlight Tours. Contact Anna Gunther at agunther@cityschool.org for more information.