February Spotlight

Our Student of the Month for February is Ava, a young violinist in kindergarten at Vineville Academy, who received a scholarship to take weekly violin lessons with Jaris Tobler, our Instructor of the Month (see below). Ava’s mother, Kendra Flowers, answered a few questions about what music education from the Otis Redding Foundation means to them.

“I choose the center to help nurture Ava's interest in playing the violin. I appreciate the fact that there are scholarships to help with the classes, it gives families a chance who otherwise could not afford a chance to enhance their child creativity.”

Mrs. Flowers found that through the private lessons, Ava “wants to practice more” and “wants to know more about who Otis Redding was.”

Instructor of the Month Jaris Tobler is the current orchestral director at Central High School, and is also a coach at the Otis Music Camp. He recently graduated from Columbus State University with a Bachelor of Art Degree in Music Education with a concentration in String Instruments. He has been playing violin since the age 10 and has added in studies with viola, cello, contrabass, piano, and voice.