GBHS is full to the brim with high-achieving, talented students, both academically as well as through extracurriculars. One student, however, is rising above the rest when it comes to turning passion into action.
Lexi Luong, GBHS junior, has been playing the violin since she was eight years old, taking part in multiple orchestras and chamber ensembles over the years – and shining out in those, too.
“I am a member of the Auburn Symphony and the concertmaster of the Placer County Youth Orchestra,” Luong said.
“I take private lessons, I play in occasional gigs, I’m a member of a chamber group called Fifth Street and I do summer camps (sometimes as a participant, sometimes as a counselor),” she said. “I’ve played in a couple other orchestras before, including the Sacramento Youth Symphony. I played violin in the pit orchestra for two musicals at Del Oro and I am going to playing in (the musical) ‘Into the Woods’ this year at Granite Bay!”
But Luong’s musical success is not stopping there. With her extensive musical background, the motivated junior is taking her talent to teaching.
A few months ago, Luong decided that she wanted to share her musical experience with others who may not be lucky enough to have had the same opportunities that she did. She now teaches fourth and fifth graders at Woodbridge Elementary School of the Roseville City School District.
“I know I’m very privileged and lucky to be able to afford private lessons and a good violin,” said Luong, “and things like that are a huge factor in musical success. Music has been such a huge part of my life and I wanted to give someone else that experience, too.”
“Woodbridge is a Title 1 school, and many of the kids don’t have money to afford music lessons so I wanted to provide that for them,” Luong said.
Luong was not the only one who was involved in the startup, however.
“I asked my orchestra conductor if she had any volunteer opportunities and she found this school, contacted them and put most of it together,” she said, “but I was mainly the one with the idea to start the program.”
Luong works with a class of about 15 elementary school students, and looks forward to every class she leads at Woodbridge.
“I just started working with them in February so I haven’t really built relationships with them individually yet, but as a whole class I really love them,” Luong said. “They’re very sweet and enthusiastic and always love coming to violin class.”
The Woodbridge class has been doing extremely well since Luong took the lead in February.
“I’ve heard from the kids’ normal school teachers that they love violin class and look forward to it every week,” Luong said. “They’re still learning basic skills but have improved since their first class.”
But although she started the Woodbridge violin program to teach music, the classes Luong has been leading have already incorporated much more important life lessons.
“I feel like it’s my responsibility to be a role model for them as a musician and a person, and I deeply care about them and want to be a positive influence in their lives,” Luong said. “I always love teaching there, and I always leave feeling really warm and happy.”
For Luong, music has not only been a hobby, but also a source of inspiration that affects all parts of her life. This is what she hopes for her students to gain out of her classes – building stronger relationships, and seeking music, specifically violin, as an escape.
“I am able to connect with people who I’d otherwise have no way of meeting, but the one thing that we have in common is music,” Luong said. “I’ve formed friendships with so many people through music, and many of these people are very influential in my life.”
“The actual music is a way of connecting with people, too, because when you play music you are able to express yourself to the world and when you listen to others’ music it’s like they’re communicating with you,” Luong said. “Sometimes music is a good way to express things that you can’t really say in words or that you can’t really even figure out in your own head.
