ALHS welcomes Ms. Bradley

Lily Good

One of our new staff members at ALHS is Ms. Bradley, the new band teacher. She is currently teaching many courses, such as Pop Music Through the Ages, Encore, Concert Band, and Jazz Band. "So not a boring moment during the day!" she remarks.

Ms. Bradley is an Avon Lake High School alumna who graduated in 2015. She then attended Baldwin Wallace University and graduated in 2019. She enjoys making music, playing the piano, cooking, and spending time with her new puppy in her free time.

Music and band have been extremely important to Ms. Bradley throughout her life. She started playing the guitar when she was eight and playing the clarinet in fifth grade. "I just loved everything about band," she says. "I was in the marching band, and the concert and symphonic band when I was here." While participating in a group called the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony, she saw the impact music had on students. "I think that being a teacher, and specifically being a music teacher, is such an important job," Ms. Bradley states. With many kids in these classes being passionate and eager to learn, she says that "it's been such an honor and a privilege to work with those students."

Additionally, Ms. Bradley has had experience teaching a group of younger kids in the past. However, the transition from teaching another age group presented "different challenges and triumphs." She says that learning how the school operates and dealing with COVID-19 were new obstacles to overcome as well. Despite the troubles the pandemic has brought us, Ms. Bradley is dedicated to creating a safe and effective learning environment with masks and social-distancing. Especially since many groups, such as Concert Band, have over 70 members, socially-distancing students in the PAC is beneficial for everyone's health and safety. "It has been a challenge, but we are working through it," Ms. Bradley notes.

Students Jacob Bir and Corbin Grassa both look forward to the class. Jacob says that Ms. Bradley takes the time to teach and introduces them to interesting and challenging concepts. "She is definitely trying to keep us apart and be effective," Corbin explains in reference to COVID-19 regulations in the classroom. Tommy Polakowski is another student who participates in a variety of groups,such as the marching band and jazz band. "I like that she makes sure we all know the parts and goes through stuff slowly," Tommy mentions. "She really works with each section to make sure they know their parts."

When asked about one of the most memorable moments from this year, Ms. Bradley discussed the time when the officers in the Marching Band gave her the Smiley Award. "They saw that even though I was struggling, I was keeping a positive attitude. So, I think it was magical."

Above all, Ms. Bradley yearns for music to be a "silver lining" for anyone who walks into the band room. She hopes that students who are interested in the subject can appreciate this wonderful art, as well as create their own works independently in the future.