Andrea Cotto-Juarbe is a 13-year-old student at Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy in Hartford, Connecticut. She has been a Youth Arts student for a year and attends the program alongside her sister one night a week. Andrea has a love for music and gymnastics and is an aspiring author. She believes that music can positively impact the lives of others as it has done for her.

Andrea has played the Viola for four years, but it is not the first instrument she learned to play. She played the violin for two years before switching to the Viola. “I like the viola better because it has a deeper, darker sound,” Andrea explained.

Andrea plays the Viola with her school orchestra and the Hartford All-City Youth Orchestra at Charter Oak Cultural Center.

Andrea first became interested in string instruments in elementary school. “I wanted to try something new,” Andrea explained. All her friends were getting into sports, but Andrea decided to pick up the violin. “I became the classical person in my friend group.”  When I asked Andrea about one thing that music has taught her, she explained that she learned that you “definitely have to practice a lot.” “If you want to get better or be the best, you have to practice.” Andrea also expressed the positive impact that music has had in her life. “When I was going through a depressive state, music helped me a lot,” Andrea explained. “I want to continue pursuing music because it can help people out of a depressive state like I was in.”

When Andrea is not participating in some form of musical performance, she is writing. Romance novels inspire Andrea, her favorite being The Inheritance Games. She is currently writing a book titled The Language of a Criminal. While Andrea keeps most of her writing in her room, she hopes to share it with others someday and is looking forward to taking writing classes at the Youth Arts Institute over the summer. 

In addition to playing the viola and writing, Andrea is a gymnast. “I was in gymnastics for seven years until COVID started.” The Olympian Gabby Douglas inspired Andrea’s love for gymnastics. When I asked what Andrea was looking forward to in high school, she explained that she hopes to take honors classes to get into a good college. One school that is on her radar is UCLA. “I watched the gymnastics movie Full Out,” Andrea explained. “UCLA has a really popular coach, and they have a gymnastic gym.” 

If music could take Andrea anywhere, she hopes to go to Paris, France. The romance capital of the world. After she builds a solo career in music and becomes a world-renown novelist, Andrea wants to be a pediatrician. “In my family, there are a lot of kids,” Andrea explained. “They always need guidance, and I want to help them.”

MEET NATALIA, OUR MARCH 2022 Y.A.I. STUDENT OF THE MONTH!

Natalia Reyes is a 12-year-old student at Renzulli Academy in Hartford, Connecticut. She has been a Youth Arts student for four years and continues to attend the program two nights a week.  Natalia is passionate about music, loves to sing, and laugh with her friends.

 Natalia has played the violin for three years. “When I was four or five, I had a toy violin, and ever since, I wanted to play the violin professionally,” Natalia explained. She plays the clarinet as well. “I always wanted to be a part of a band. And to get into Funky Dawgz, I had to play a brass instrument.” Today, Natalia plays both instruments at Renzulli Academy and Charter Oak Cultural Center through Funky Dawgz and the Hartford All-City Youth Orchestra.  

 In addition to playing in orchestra and band, Natalia practices both instruments for 30-minutes every day. “I use my left hand a lot,” Natalia explained as she presented her red index finger. “I don’t mind; I pick at my fingers anyway.”

 Natalia has made so many memories around music. Her favorite memory so far was during orchestra practice at school.  “One time, I dropped my violin. I asked my friend to grab my violin while it was slipping, but she didn’t hear me”, Natalia explained. “When the violin hit the floor, my chin rest came off. My teacher began to panic, trying to stop me from crying. She glued it back on so that my mom didn’t have to pay for it. I never told my mom.” Natalia looks back on this memory and can’t help but laugh at how much she cried and how quickly her teacher and friend came to the rescue.

 Natalia’s favorite piece to play is Bandology by Eric Osterling. “It sounds cool with everyone,” she explained. “Sometimes in my band at school, you only hear the clarinets, but it’s fun.” Eric Osterling’s grandson is coming to an upcoming concert at Natalia’s school. Natalia says that she’s not nervous. “I’m not going to be able to tell who he is anyway,” she explained.

 When Natalia is not playing one of her instruments, she is singing. Natalia one day hopes to join Vocal Ensemble at Charter Oak but is nervous about singing in public. “I’m scared of showing my voice to people,” Natalia explained, “I haven’t in a long time.”

 For a career, Natalia hopes to become a veterinarian for large animals. “I love cows and horses. I think they’re so cool.” Last year Natalia had the chance to interact with them at a zoo, “one of the cows licked me!” While her focus will be on large breed animals, Natalia has a soft spot for bunnies and says she will always make time to take care of them.

Two of our Youth Arts Institute students – Saagariha and Sarvariha Sunoj – were winners of the Be a Friend Lip Sync Contest!

Their mother sent Charter Oak a nice note:

My daughters got an opportunity to participate in a lip sync battle organized by Be A Friend Project. The theme was to raise awareness of social bullying. As a proud parent, I am excited to announce that Saagariha and Sarvariha are chosen as the WINNERS of the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CATEGORY for DUO PERFORMANCE with the highest scores combined for originality/creativity, dramatic expression, lip sync ability and portrayal of the Social Bullying theme. Charter Oak always empowers their community through the integrated study of theatre acts and arts. The encouragement given by you drives the interest for them to participate in this contest. Thank you very much.

Congratulations, Saagariha and Sarvariha. We hope you enjoy their performance!