Lifelong Music Prodigy Continues Education at Kean

By: Kevin Modeszto I Published: December 8, 2025

The airplane landed at an airport in England. On that airplane was Istanbulite (from Istanbul) guitar student Suyla Polat, who had landed in an all-new country to go to an all-new school. At the time, Polat was in 11th grade. It was right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, so she had to be quarantined for ten days. 

“I loved it,” Polat said on being quarantined, “It was great. It was really freeing, I enjoyed being alone.” 

Polat finds herself studying in another new country, this time in America at Kean University. Polat, 20, double majors in music performance and environmental biology. Kean is Polat’s second time going to school abroad. She went to high school at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England, even doing two extra years of high school to go there. 

Polat was in a “mentally tough spot”. Turkey was in an economic crisis, and she had a big choice to make. Polat had been playing guitar since she was four years old, but she would have had to stop if she stayed in Turkey. In a “very impulsive” decision, she applied to the Yehudi Menuhin School, where less than 100 students attend and only 5% of applicants are admitted, in order to keep playing. 

Polat got accepted with 100% scholarship.  

“My mom did not want me to go,” Polat said, “but she couldn’t say no after I got the scholarship.” 

Polat found music through her father and marine biology through her grandfather.  

“As a child I loved collecting bugs and watching documentaries,” Polat said, “my grandpa was the first Turk to circumnavigate around the world. As a family we had a tradition of sailing, so I was very interested in working with [marine life].”  

Polat knew she had a passion for both music and marine biology. When she finished her time at the Yehudi Menuhin School, she knew that double majoring was the only option she truly had. 

“I didn’t want to put that [guitar] aside…so I decided I would just do it [guitar and biology] at the same time,” Polat said. 

Polat quickly encountered a problem, as no schools in Europe allowed her to do this double-major. This is when she started looking at schools in America. “America” became Kean University, in a major part, due to a connection with her former teacher, Dr. Celil Refik Kaya.

“It was a good idea, the teacher’s really good, [and] I could do two majors at once,” Polat said on choosing Kean. 

So off to America she went. She boarded another airplane that landed at another airport, this time in New Jersey. Polat had landed in another all-new country to go to another all-new school. Her biggest adjustment in America was adjusting to how people treated her.  

“I did notice that Americans are very nice and very kind, but it’s very shallow,” Polat said, “people say hi and act like your friend, but you’re actually acquaintances.” 

Despite that belief, Polat said her best friend in the world was a friend she made at Kean: junior environmental biology major Jade Stetson. The two met in the halls of Wilkins Theatre. Stetson invited Polat to go to a show on Kean Stage, and the two became friends quickly. 

“I pursued her for our friendship,” Stetson said, “I went out of my way to talk to her. I invited her to a Kean play, and she said yes.”  

“We have been hanging out since,” Polat said. 

Stetson’s favorite memory of the two was sharing one of her favorite activities, ice skating, with Polat for the first time. After months of building a friendship, the two were thrust apart for months as Polat traveled back to Turkey during the summer.  

“It kinda sucks,” Stetson said, “like I want to go do something with the rest of our friends, and she’s like the Patrick to my Spongebob. I have to go with her and she’s not there to go.”  

Polat discussed a disconnection she felt from her childhood friends in Turkey.  

“Not because my friends were different,” Polat said, “but because I had grown apart from [them]. I left Turkiye [Turkey] relatively young, so after a while I just stopped talking to my friends in Turkiye.”  

Polat further expanded on her return to Turkey. 

“It was nice to see family again,” Polat said, “but at the same time it was a little rough. I started noticing that my parents are getting older.” 

When asked her favorite of Polat’s performances she’s seen, Stetson easily answered with “a Philip Glass movement.” Polat, meanwhile, answered with a five-concert series she performed in Japan during high school. Polat and some of her friends did a crowd funding campaign and raised “around 8,000 pounds” to perform these concerts. 

“My favorite performance is usually when I’m playing with other people,” Polat said, “music is a lot more enjoyable when you’re on stage with other people rather than solo.” 

Polat could not count the number of countries she had been to, nor could she count the number of countries she has friends in.  

“If you want to do music, Europe is a lot cheaper,” Polat joked when asked for advice she would give to someone in her position, “I still have my parents telling me ‘why didn’t you go to Europe?’ because you don’t really have to pay for tuition in Europe, just housing.” 

Kean’s removal of out-of-state tuition will help Polat and her family greatly, as her parents are “having a really hard time [paying for Kean].” 

“She is amazing,” Stetson said, “she is so incredibly smart. I don’t know how she does the double major. I barely survive in our major and it’s my only major.”