"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I miss playing viola and percussion in Chamber Orchestra and Jazz Band," Dennise wrote in a scholarship essay today. She's the remarkable first generation student I'm mentoring this year. Her parents are Mexican immigrants.

"Music teachers created a beautiful solution," she wrote. "They mail students sheet music for their instrument part in each song. Each week, they also send us a link to listen to a professional orchestra playing the song we are learning. Wearing headphones, I play my viola along with the orchestra. This fills the void of not playing alongside other musicians."

Dennise plays first chair viola in the high school Chamber Orchestra and Icicle Creek Youth Orchestra. In junior year, she took up percussion, as well. Now she plays marimba, xylophone, snare drum, and other percussion instruments.

In 2018, this incredible young lady won first place in the Washington State Solo and Ensemble Competition for:

1. Viola solo,
2. Mallets solo (playing marimba with two mallets in each hand), and
3. Snare drum solo.

Flame of Hope home porch concerts during the pandemic:

Last September, Dennise put flyers in mailboxes in her neighborhood, inviting people to come hear her play viola. Wearing masks, over 20 people listened to Dennise play viola on her front porch for an hour. People loved it.

Also she videotaped herself playing on viola the Beatle's song, "Yesterday," for memory care patients and senior homes. Her goal is to comfort people with music.

Starting as a freshman, Denisse has tutored students in math, including Algebra 1 and 2. Dennise tutors up to 20 students at once, an entire math class.

With a perfect 4.0 grade point average, Dennise plans to major in applied math and minor in music in college. She wants to become an accountant.

It's an honor to work with her.