Senior Polly Ayala started playing the violin at a very young age. As her passion for music and playing the violin evolved she started to look at new opportunities. She realized that she wanted to share her love for the instrument and teach young children. 

After she expressed this desire to her violin teacher Ashley Stanfield she proposed an opportunity to Ayala. 

“As I got older I was talking to her [Ashley] about how I want to go into music as a career and she said a great way to start is by working with your own students because you can learn more and see if that is a career you want to go into,” Ayala said. “So she invited me to come to help her teach at St. Agnes.” 

Ayala is now in her second year of teaching at St. Agnes after school. After having such success in her first year and building strong connections with some students she wanted to continue `learning with Ayala over the summer

 “A couple of them wanted one on one lessons over the summer so I had a couple of single students and I would go to their house and text their parents about a date and time,” Ayala said. 

Throughout her experiences of teaching, she has learned that although teaching might not be exactly what she wants to go into as a profession she has still found fulfillment through the process.

 “I do think it feels good to teach a younger generation the way you started out with an instrument,” Ayala said. “I think it’s really cool because you were like that at one point and so now you are teaching them to be as good as you are.”