09/02/2026
In 1996, a six-year-old girl came home from a trip to Trinidad and Tobago and told her mother she was done with piano. She wanted to play steelpan.
Her mother, Lorna Green, said yes. Thirty years later, that decision has grown into the Cultural Academy for Excellence, a Mount Rainier nonprofit where steelpan lessons come with homework help, SAT prep, and a track record: Music Director Khandeya Sheppard (Khandeya "Kay" Sheppard) says over 99% of CAFE students graduate and go on to college.
Along the way, CAFE's Positive Vibrations Youth Steel Orchestra grew from 14 students learning their instruments to a group that has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, and the Maryland Governor's Mansion, and claimed the Virginia Beach International PANfest grand championship three times.
This year also marks a transition in CAFE's leadership. After three decades of building this program from a basement into a DMV institution, Lorna Green says she's confident the community, staff, and alumni she raised up will carry it forward.
Hyattsville Life & Times sat down with Lorna Green, Khandeya Sheppard, and CAFE alum Hannah Browne to tell the full story.
Read the full story: https://hyattsvillelife.com/11399/news/the-cultural-academy-for-excellence-celebrates-its-30th-anniversary/
Did you grow up hearing PVYSO perform somewhere in the DMV? Tell us where you first heard them.
Learn more about CAFE's programs at cafeyouth.org.
The Cultural Academy for Excellence (CAFE) celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, but the nonprofit youth development organization, located on Queens Chapel Road in Mount Rainier, might have flown under your radar if you’re not versed in the world of percussive music. Founded by Lorna Green in...
