Wings Over Malibu lifts up students, safety and Emily Shane’s enduring legacy
By Barbara Burke · Mon May 04 2026
Annual Emily Shane Foundation fundraiser at Duke’s celebrates academic mentorship, honors lives lost on Malibu roads and turns heartbreak into lasting community impact
As attendees entered the Ocean Room at Dukes on April 23 to enjoy Wings Over Malibu, the Emily Shane Foundation’s annual fundraiser, they were serenaded by musicians from Malibu Middle and High Schools.
How apropos! The Foundation’s mission is to honor Emily Shane, a Malibu middle school student, who was ruthlessly murdered by a suicidal driver in 2010. Emily was only 13 years old.
The shattering, harrowing, almost paralyzing anguish that a parent feels when losing a child so tragically is unfathomable to those who have never experienced such agony, Michel Shane, Emily’s father, shared with the audience. “Ellen and I could have disappeared into grief but instead, we decided that Emily’s light would mean something and change things,” he said.
That’s one incredibly bright light! Through fires, mudslides, and a pandemic, the foundation’s Successful Education Achievement (SEA) program has benefitted more than 1,500 underserved students. Students who, like Emily did, struggle in academics. SEA provides academic tutoring and mentorship for those students who risk “falling through the cracks,” Emily's mother Ellen Shane explained, noting that empowering students to address and remedy such learning challenges is ideally accomplished in middle school before students face the academic rigors of high school.
SEA’s mission is to pair middle schoolers with vetted and trained mentor-tutors who are university students or recent graduates, fostering relatability, which drives results.
Those are incredibly impressive results! A full 100% of students showed academic improvement in just one subject and, after participating in the SEA program, students achieved a 92% passing rate in English, compared to only 44% of the students passing English before SEA tutoring began.
After the Palisades Fire, SEA was there to support students, Ellen Shane noted, adding that the organization helps students in Compton, East Los Angeles, and Malibu.
It’s wonderful for the kids to use their art for good
By providing the young musicians a chance to perform in public, the foundation manifested its motto of “passing it forward,” and student musicians were full of gratitude.
“I love playing in Malibu — it gives me so much joy!” Bridgette Aran said. “I really enjoy playing upright bass.”
The ensemble, accompanied by Malibu harpist Alexis Aria, set the amicable, convivial tone for the evening by playing "Gaelic Castle," which opens with a powerful sound of open fifths and includes melodies that move through all sections of the orchestra and "Mama Paquita," a high-spirited popular Brazilian Carnaval song that moves between a bright, classical style and a melodic Romantic Style.
Emily would have loved this party!
“The Malibu schools’ orchestra has been playing for Emily Shane events for a long time, and we love participating because the Foundation does such good work,” said Conductor Maia Zander, who serves as the orchestra director for the schools. “It’s wonderful for kids to use their art for good!”
Sometimes storytelling is the most impactful method to emphasize how impactful efforts are. Azucena Luis, mother of Fernando Cruz, told the attendees how much her son's learning habits and performance have improved because the SEA program has provided tutoring for Fernando. In turn, tutor Marcus Carrasco-Trujillo, a freshman at Pepperdine, shared how inspired he is by inspiring Fernando. Together, they all manifested the powerful effect of paying it forward.
Turning pain into purpose
No one — absolutely no one — wants to be a member of what Michel Shane calls “the empty chair club,” consisting of those family members who are left behind to grieve the loss of a child attributable to a vehicle accident. Unfortunately, Michel had a new member of that unenviable group. He introduced Carla Langley, mother of 16-year-old Hunter Langley, who tragically died while driving on Malibu Canyon Road on Feb. 4.
“We are on a crusade to get concrete barriers installed along dangerous roads even as my daughter suffers because for the first time in her life, her twin brother is not with her,” Carla Langley bemoaned, as attendees tearfully looked on.
Once again, a cruel tragedy has engendered a grieving parent’s motivation to turn grief into action and advocate to save lives. Langley has joined the Shanes’ other cause entitled Driving Change, an initiative envisioned by Michel Shane that is committed to achieving zero traffic fatalities in and near Malibu by 2050 through forming partnerships with government agencies, universities, and safety groups to develop solutions that save lives.
The event honored Sen. Ben Allen, who has represented Malibu in the California State Senate since 2014. The Shanes noted that Allen has been enormously supportive of all their efforts. Taking the microphone, Allen recounted that when Emily Shane was killed, he was serving on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education and how the impact of the tragedy shattered the Malibu community.
“This fundraiser demonstrates the good things that can result from turning pain into purpose,” Aria commented, noting that she is very proud of the Shanes for spearheading efforts to save lives through seeking changes in governmental policies and through advocating for innovative road safety education, which utilizes gamified learning platforms that use neuroscience principles to teach safe driving decision-making.
The evening honored Emily, Hunter, the four young Pepperdine students who were killed on Oct. 17, 2023, and so many others who have succumbed to vehicular accidents in and near Malibu. Emily would be honored.