“I was born in San Diego, California, and I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I started playing music at five years old with the Suzuki method of teaching. In Grade 2, I moved with my family to Canada and to Ottawa.
It was colder here in Canada and I needed warmer clothes. I also remember there was a different national anthem here. I miss the ocean and the food, especially the fish tacos.
I go to Canterbury High School in the Strings Program where I am a cellist. I chose the cello because I wanted to sit down, and I would still pick the cello to this day. I feel the cello is like another body, and it gives me something to hold and to express music through. You are basically another instrument because the instrument can’t make music on its own, so you are one with the other. I love the freedom of expression in music.
I like the public areas of Kitchissippi, and there are lots of nice areas to walk in. I enjoy the parks, and the great library. In 10 years, I see myself still in Ottawa; it’s just amazing here, and I’d still love to have music in my life as I see now as just the beginning of my career. I’d like to keep doing it as a hobby or a side job.
I’d like to be a physiotherapist because I like to be able to relieve stress in the body. My mother taught me that, and that is a great thing, and I’d like to help other people do that.
If I won a million dollars, I’d give most of it away to programs like OrKidstra that help kids learn about music and I’d give the rest to my family, especially to my mother for all the things she has done for us. I think the world needs more connections through music. If we were all to sit down and listen to a recital or listen to someone so young and so innocent, just be able to present what they can do, it’s so heartwarming and wholesome that it would let people think and maybe put their mind to something more helpful in the world.
I have no idea where music will take me but for now I will stick to OrKidstra and the Suzuki method of teaching and see where that takes me.”
Collected by Ellen Bond