Last year, Miami Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips’ love of music and passion for helping young people inspired him to support the Donna E. Shalala MusicReach program, a transformative Frost School of Music program where Frost School student mentors teach Miami-Dade public school students music and life skills.
In August, Phillips asked MusicReach, in turn, to support him in another kind of love: for his girlfriend, Samantha. A string trio made up of three MusicReach students played the couple’s fairy-tale-like engagement ceremony at Miami’s historic Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, in a moving example of what the Frost School calls “playing it forward.”
“I invited the MusicReach students because I knew I wanted a live music element to the proposal, and who better to do it than the talented young kids in the program,” said Phillips, a former Miami Hurricanes player and University of Miami alumnus who is himself a music producer and creator and studied for a time at the Frost School. “They did an amazing job of bringing my vision to light, and I’m super grateful to them for making the moment even more special.”
The trio included violinists Erika Liu, a Stamps Scholar, and Julian Rodriguez, who is pursuing a master’s in media scoring. Both of them worked as MusicReach mentors at the program’s summer camp this year. Rodriguez even arranged two of Phillips’ favorite songs for the ceremony: “Yebba’s Heartbreak,” a love song whose chorus is “I do I do I do,” and “Pimmie’s Dilemma,” where the singer pleads with her boyfriend not to party with his wild friends.
The third trio member was cellist Harmoni Warren, who got a huge boost from Phillips’ help for MusicReach. Last year, the star athlete’s Jaelan Phillips Foundation funded the Music Engineering Mentoring Scholarship, which enabled Frost School audio engineering student Jack Reilly to mentor three teenage MusicReach students in engineering and production. One of them was Warren. Last April, Phillips even visited a recording session at Weeks Recording Studio with Reilly, his students, and other MusicReach mentors, engaging enthusiastically with everyone there.
“This is what it’s all about—seeing these MusicReach students light up as they grow more confident in their skills as musicians and artists,” Phillips said at the time. “The talent in this studio is undeniable. I’m honored that the Jaelan Phillips Foundation will play a role in showing each of these talented individuals that success is within reach.”
Now Warren, a former student at arts magnet school Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory for the Arts, is studying at the Frost School on a full scholarship—and is herself a MusicReach mentor.
"Sam and Jaelan are both very important to us at MusicReach, and the Jaelan Phillips Foundation has made a significant impact on our program in a short time,” said Joe Burleson, who supervises MusicReach. “We were honored to be part of such a special occasion. It was heartwarming to see the same students Jaelan supported now supporting him.”
