Jenny Vo, an eighth grader at Lanier Middle School, leads both in and outside of the orchestra. She is enrolled in two periods of orchestra and is a member of the Orchestra Leadership team, leading by example and guiding her classmates through musical difficulties.
After taking private piano lessons for three years, Jenny’s cousin sent her a video of a dance recital. Although Jenny enjoyed the performance, she noticed the accompanying orchestra and just knew that she would pursue orchestral experiences. Three years of violin and orchestral experience has allowed her to expand as a person. Jenny says, there are “people that I have never known and never considered talking to, [and] I suddenly know their whole profile with orchestra.”
Ms. Carolyn Alford, the orchestra director at Lanier Middle, says, “Jenny is a very well-rounded student who excels in many different areas. Scholastically, she’s an awesome kid, she does well in all her classes.” Beyond the everyday requirements of orchestra, “she extends herself as a great concert master, she’s involved in the Honors Orchestra, [and] she’s been involved in Tri-M.”
While Jenny is part of a much larger picture, the Orchestra Leadership team, she, specifically, is the “Librarian.” This means that Jenny is responsible for helping other students when they need new music or additional copies. She also gives examples and helps her classmates to work through difficult passages in their own music, either on her violin or the other student’s instrument.
Although Jenny would like to become a pharmacist one day, she also plans to continue to involve herself in orchestra. She says that “it’s great having [a talent] you can grow and experience.”
Jenny’s work ethic and “can-do attitude” are just a few things that set her apart. Ms. Alford says that, whether Jenny pursue a musical or pharmaceutical career, she “just [knows] she’s going to do awesome things in high school and beyond.”
