The night before last, I attended “Sophia’s Symphonic Send-off,” a fundraiser for the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, featuring Sophia Stark, the daughter of Darel and Georgine Stark, shortly before she travels to Tennessee for the national Miss Teen Volunteer American Pageant. In the fall, Sophia will also be attending Manhattan School of Music in New York City to study musical theatre.

What an amazing journey this has been! As I was telling some of the people at my table, I’ve known Georgine and Darel when they first came to Hawaii and weren’t even married yet! Of course I remember when Georgine was pregnant, both when she had Sophia, and two years later when she had Raphael.

If you go back and read my post, “Like mother, like daughter,” you can see that this is a musical family from the get go. Remember when they made Sophia a cardboard violin?

Both Sophia and Raphael took organ lessons for several years from me. Here’s a picture from one of Sophia’s later performances.

It’s been a few years since I’ve heard Sophia sing and WOW! Her voice has grown enormously—so full and rich, with lots of color, yet she sings with great sensitivity. Here’s her performance of “Vocalise,” a composition by her father, Darel Stark.

You’ll agree with me that she’s destined for a successful career!

It was a night to not only celebrate Sophia but also her amazing family, her father, violinist Darel Stark, her mother, soprano Georgine Stark and younger brother, Raphael. For me one of the best moments of the evening was when the whole family performed “ O Sanctissima,” a song Georgine arranged for them after a performance by the UK boy soprano group, Libera.

One of the highlights (and a surprise to Sophia and her family!) was the proclamation from the Hawaii House of Representatives.

It says, ” The House of Representatives State of Hawaii hereby present this certificate congratulating Miss Hawaii Teen Volunteer Sophia Stark… WHEREAS Sophia Stark was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, recently graduated from Southern New Hampshire University and will be attending the Manhattan School of Music this fall, and WHEREAS Sophia has been a soloist in multiple productions with the Hawaii Opera Theatre and WHEREAS she is a tireless advocate for the arts and dreams of opening a performing arts school for underprivileged children and youth; and WHEREAS she has organized events to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network, American Lung Association, and Wounded Warriors of Hawaii; and WHEREAS Sophia has chaperoned foster youth and teens for Family Programs Hawaii and served over 300 hours performing for senior centers and residences; and WHEREAS, Sophia is a Co-Founder of Learn to LEAD (Leaders Empowered and Directing), a youth servant leadership organization, and WHERE she was a contestant on MasterChef Junior in Season 6 where she ranked 17th; and WHEREAS she is the first African-American to be named Miss Hawai’i’s Outstanding Teen in 2018, and WHEREAS Sophia hopes to receive her bachelor’s degree in Musical Theatre and perform on Broadway; now, therefore BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-First Legislature of the State of Hawai’i congratulates Sophia Stark as Miss Hawai’i Teen Volunteer; honors her commitment to our community and the arts and wishes her well on all her future endeavors.

Way to go, Sophia! May all your dreams come true!