Delaware
Music education offers young people a path to resilience, empathy and hope
Viral TikTok dancer Stephen Kirton (Stevo) from Newark gives advice and dances
TikTok dancer Stephen Kirton of Newark (better known as Stevo) gives tips on becoming a social media influencer after gaining 1.7 million followers.
Right now, it’s far too easy to find another reason to wake up scared, resentful or angry.
The start of a long-slogging election year. The horrifying images that roll in across our social media feeds from the Middle East. The price of literally anything at the grocery store ($7 for a dozen eggs? I’m seething).
Public polling tells us we can’t get along across differences, we don’t trust our government, and we feel more socially isolated than ever. Some suggest that democracy is at stake and our planet is on fire.
Whoa — this all feels very apocalyptic! Perhaps I should do less late-night doom scrolling.
Truth be told, these issues worry me. What kind of planet and human experience are we leaving for the next generation? I think often of my nieces, 19 and 12. I think of all the kids I spend time with as an honorary uncle.
What also worries me is how we’re treating one another, kids and adults alike. I worry about how our daily interactions as humans move us toward or away from cultivating an appreciation for our shared humanity.
This all makes me wonder: What does our world need most from us, right now?
I’ve been thinking about this for some time, working as I have at the intersection of music, education and social impact for 22 years now.
So, I’ve developed a hypothesis:
What’s needed most is more integrity and honesty. More attention to our internal and collective moral compasses. More authentic care. More empathy.
What I mean to say is: more development of our uniquely human qualities of character and more appreciation for our shared humanity.
It turns out that music education is a powerful tool to teach and model this.
Cultivating kids and adults committed to developing strengths of character and finding our shared humanity is part of the personal mission I bring as someone new to Delaware.
On Feb. 5, I began as the new president and CEO of The Music School of Delaware. This role is an incredibly special opportunity to steward the Music School into its next century of impact.
At The Music School of Delaware, we connect with thousands of kids and adults in six locations across Delaware — from Newark and Wilmington to Milford, Seaford, Hockessin, and Lewes. Through music classes, ensembles, lessons, concerts and other creative experiences, we bring people together across differences to listen and learn about themselves, each other, and the world around them.
While it’s true that we teach guitar, violin, voice, orchestra, music history, strings for pre-K kids and more, that’s not all we practice and teach at the school.
I believe that a core part of what we teach and practice at The Music School is developing qualities of personal character.
Not only what it means to be creatively curious and artistically excellent, but also what it means to be kind and resilient. To be selfless. To be a generous helper. To be brave.
What does generosity look like when you’re creating music with other humans? What does bravery feel like when you’re tracing an improvised melody over a complex jazz chart? What do kindness and resilience look like when you try and fail at a new song?
Futurists predict our most in-demand human capabilities to power the 21st century are digital literacy, data literacy, and critical thinking. Let’s make sure our young people index strongly in these areas.
But those capabilities alone are not enough.
Our young people also must be equipped with a sense of right and wrong; with a strong moral compass and commitment to honesty and integrity; with well-developed hearts and souls.
At The Music School of Delaware and in all communities of learning and formation, we must support this type of intentional development of qualities of character: this fostering of an appreciation for our shared humanity. We must talk and think about it.
And — hardest for us all, especially today — we must model it.
Stephen Beaudoin is the new president and CEO of The Music School of Delaware. He has a 20-plus year career in organizational transformation and change in the performing arts and holds a bachelor of music degree from New England Conservatory of Music and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
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The Delaware Police Officer Standards and Training Commission recently announced that the Dewey Beach Police Department and Rehoboth Beach Police Department have both earned state accreditation from the Delaware Police Accreditation Commission.
As part of the rigorous process, a team of DPAC assessors ensured all accreditation standards were met by completing comprehensive, on-site inspections of each agency, reviewing their policies and procedures for compliance, and conducting interviews with department members.
“This milestone represents a significant step forward for public safety in Delaware. The initial state accreditation of these police agencies reflects a strong commitment to professionalism, accountability and excellence in law enforcement. I commend each department for their dedication to serving their communities with integrity and for upholding the highest standards,” said Joshua Bushweller, Department of Safety and Homeland Security secretary and DPAC chair.
Dover, Del. – Three farms, one from each of Delaware’s counties, were inducted into the Century Farm Program by the state Department of Agriculture on Thursday at the Delaware Agricultural Museum.
Each of the family farms has been owned and operated for at least a century. Each received a sign for their farms, an engraved plate and legislative tributes.
In addition to Secretary of Agriculture, Don Clifton, and Deputy Secretary Jimmy Kroon, state Senators David Wilson (R – District 18) and Kyra Hoffner (D – District 14) were also in attendance.
Wright Family Farms are located in Harrington in Kent County. In 1919, the farm was purchased by William Wright. Over a century later, William’s grandson, Ronald, is the owner and his great-grandson, Greg, said he hopes to continue the family legacy by buying the farm from his father.
Although the event celebrated each family for their hard work and resilience, it also highlighted the challenges farmers have to surmount to stay in business today, let alone for a hundred years.
“The price of equipment, the price of fertilizer, the price of seed, everything is just gone up,” Greg said. “So, you know, everything’s going up that we gotta purchase just to stay in business.”
Clifton, Kroon and Wilson also echoed difficulties in balancing the need to preserve agricultural land with the need to develop housing and sustainable energy projects like solar power.
“I know housing is very important, and we want people to always have good housing, but at some point, I think you’re going to saturate the area with more houses than you have food to feed these people,” Wilson said.
Kroon also said there are difficulties in keeping future generations motivated to stay in farming.
“When you think about it in the context of multi-generational farm families, there’s a real long-term challenge where a new generation may think twice about whether they want to keep farming if it’s always a struggle,” he said.
Clifton said farming has always been a challenging way of life, but it has been so since time immemorial.
“These families, their experience shows that they have an appreciation for the way of life and perseverance and that’s to be honored and emulated to the greatest extent possible,” he said.
Greg said he hopes to pass down the way of life so that his family legacy can live on for another hundred years, as well as for other families.
“A hundred years as the same family tilling the land, that’s, you know, that’s an honor right there,” Greg said. “And I hope that more farmers who are close to 100 years old will be doing the same thing. You know, keep it in the family.”
An investigation is underway after police said a man’s body was pulled from the Delaware River in South Philadelphia.
According to police, around 9 a.m. on Friday, April 17, 2026, emergency responders pulled an unidentified man from the Delaware River, near the Navy Yard. Medic’s pronounced the man dead at 9:11 a.m.
Léelo en español aquí.
SkyForce10 flew above as police and other first responders were on the scene.
NBC10
NBC10
Police are working to determine the circumstances of the incident and identify the man.
This is a developing story; check back here for updates.
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