Outstanding Service Leaders
Students Connecting Art to Learning in Education (SCALE)
School of Medicine
Congratulations to our Outstanding Service Leaders for May 2026, Students Connecting the Arts to Learning in Education (SCALE) from the School of Medicine!
SCALE has been making an impact this year through their volunteering with Living Classrooms to support the Ascend Music Program here in Baltimore, providing free musical instruction to youth, and also volunteering to play music for patients in the Johns Hopkins Hospital. We spoke with SCALE members Noah Brookes (SCALE Founder, President 2024), Sydney Sun (President, 2025), Charis Ma (President, 2026), Hannah Caris (Treasurer, 2026), and Ariel Kim (Outreach, 2026) about their work and how others can get involved. Read our interview below to learn more!
Tell us about yourself! What brought you to SOM, and what made you want to get involved with SCALE?
Noah Brookes: I’m a MD/PhD student and came here to receive the best training in tackling disease from both the clinical and scientific perspectives while working in the vibrant Baltimore community. I started playing guitar in high school and have always been extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to have lessons and mentorship that made me fall in love with the instrument. I realized during college in Chicago how rare that opportunity could be, and joined a free music program there to try to spread the love of music to people who may not be able to afford lessons/instruments. I noticed a similar gap upon moving to Baltimore, so I started SCALE with Alyssa Arbuiso to give people in the community the opportunities that I received, and to share music with the patient population at Hopkins that I learn so much from every day!
Sydney Sun: My name is Sydney, and I am a current M2 at JHUSOM. Since I was 5 years old, I started to play the piano, and it became almost an extension of my voice as I found personal expression through it. Unfortunately, I was not able to keep up with it in college. When I came to Hopkins, I knew I wanted to find my love for piano again and to share it with others. That’s how I stumbled upon SCALE! It merged two things that I hold dear and important in my life.
Charis Ma: My name is Charis, and I am an M1! I came to Hopkins with the hopes of learning how best to serve and care for my future patients. In the midst of our current scientific and clinical training, I was drawn towards SCALE as a way to engage in the arts, music, and community. Although I grew up learning piano and mallet percussion, I hadn’t played much since high school. Getting involved with SCALE has reminded me of the joys of playing music, and it has been such a privilege to share music with both patients and kids in Baltimore!
Hannah Caris: My name is Hannah, and I'm a first-year MD-PhD student at Hopkins and a lifelong flute enthusiast. I was originally drawn to Hopkins because of the combination of outstanding clinical training and the incredible research opportunities available for my PhD. What especially stood out to me, though, was how involved Hopkins students are in such a wide range of extracurriculars, particularly programs that serve the community. During college, I volunteered teaching flute to local elementary and middle school students. There’s something truly special about helping spark a student’s passion for music and watching their confidence and skills grow over time. That experience made me excited about continuing similar work in medical school, so when I first heard about SCALE, I immediately knew I wanted to get involved.
Ariel Kim: My name is Ariel, and I am a first-year medical student at Hopkins SOM! I have been playing the flute since I was 9. Since middle school, I have been volunteering to play music for elderly people at senior homes. I loved seeing how excited, chatty, and energized many of the elderly folk became when we played music for them. I joined SCALE because it gave me the opportunity to continue to provide and receive this joy through music for the patients on Meyer 6.
Can you share a little bit about the work you are doing with SCALE? How about the time you spent with Ascend Music Program?
2026 SCALE Board: Through partnering with the Ascend Music Program, we have the amazing privilege of providing free music lessons to the most wonderful kids in Baltimore. In the beginning of the semester, our volunteers at SCALE are matched with a young aspiring musician desiring to learn an instrument that our volunteers know how to play. We have the best time meeting every week and sharing our music knowledge, tips, and tricks with them, working up to performing a song at the Ascend Music Showcase! We have absolutely loved being a part of our students’ lives, encouraging them, and seeing all the progress that they’ve made over the past several weeks!
Are you aware of any opportunities for other students to volunteer? Are you volunteering with any other organizations where students can also get involved?
2026 SCALE Board: In addition to providing free music lessons to students through Living Classrooms, SCALE also has a mission to bring music to patients on the inpatient psychiatric unit in Meyer 6. This volunteering is made all the more meaningful as these patients often have limited contact with the outside world. It's so rewarding to be able to take song requests from patients and spend time talking with them about their days. Students can sign up to volunteer any day of the week during dinnertime, as well as during lunchtime on the weekends. It's by no means a performance (some students simply go and practice their instruments)! We are always looking for more volunteers, so please contact us if you are interested in joining.
I think a medical education would be incomplete without working with the community that you are learning to take care of. SCALE gives me the opportunity to get to know other community leaders and have fun with people that I may otherwise only see as patients in the hospital. I think it’s an incredible responsibility to be a doctor in training, and part of that responsibility is giving back to that community that is teaching you how to practice medicine.
- Noah Brookes
How does your community work complement what you are learning in the classroom at the SOM?
Noah Brookes: I think a medical education would be incomplete without working with the community that you are learning to take care of. SCALE gives me the opportunity to get to know other community leaders and have fun with people that I may otherwise only see as patients in the hospital. I think it’s an incredible responsibility to be a doctor in training, and part of that responsibility is giving back to that community that is teaching you how to practice medicine. On a more specific level, playing music in Meyer 6 lets us interact with psychiatric patients in a different way than we are usually able to in the role of doctor/caretaker, and allows us to help the patients there in a completely different way.
What is the most important experience you’ve had or most critical thing you’ve learned so far through working with our community?
Sydney Sun: Working with our community has taught me that life goes on outside of Hopkins! It is very easy to get sucked into all things school related, but volunteering has taught me that there are so many fun activities, local school programs, and other life events happening in the city of Baltimore that begs my attention too!