Last summer when we registered BigZabba for 7th grade she had to choose her electives rather quickly…like with just a few minutes to choose. How was she supposed to choose without any knowledge of the classes or teachers? She could choose up to two electives. Pretty quickly she decided on engineering (which was a super cool class but that’s for another post), but the second elective was a harder choice. She really wanted to try playing the viola in the school orchestra, but having zero experience with a stringed instrument, or the alto clef, the principal was unsure if the teacher would allow her to take the class. Much to our surprise, the teacher said that if BZ wanted to try learning the viola she could enroll in the 6th grade orchestra since those students also had little experience, and she may feel more comfortable being with students who have similar playing ability. While BZ wasn’t totally thrilled with being the only 7th grader in the 6th grade class, she understood why that was best. In addition to her daily orchestra class she had a weekly lesson with a viola teacher and by January she had improved so much the orchestra teacher recommended moving her up to the 7th grade orchestra class.

Now here we are at the beginning of 8th grade and I can’t believe how much she has learned in just one year. It has been amazing to see her excel in such a short amount of time. This last week we attending an orchestra concert and were so proud. We are so thankful for her orchestra teacher who was willing to take a chance and give BZ the opportunity to try something new.