Seventh Grade: Alana Raquel Stevenson

Published online on Friday, May. 16, 2008

Alana Stevenson was driving home from school with her father when her ears perked up at the sound of one particular instrument in a movie soundtrack.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Oboe," came the reply.

Alana said she liked the sound and wanted to play the oboe instead of the flute, which she had played for two years. And a student oboist was born -- on top of the high skills she demonstrated in the classroom.

Last year, she earned a spot on the Fresno-Madera Counties Music Educators Honor Band for students in intermediate school, even though she was still in the sixth grade at Freedom Elementary School in Clovis.

In February, she was named to the California Band Directors Association All-State Honor Band as a student in the seventh grade at Reyburn Intermediate School in Clovis. It's the equivalent of sixth chair in the state.

She is most proud of these awards, she said, because playing the oboe isn't easy. It is a double-reed instrument and requires a good embouchure -- the special position and use of the lips, tongue and teeth on an instrument.

As she was learning to play, she also was going through growth spurts, and braces were going on and off her teeth. "It's been a challenge," she said.

She also is proud of getting a 4.0 grade-point average in her first semester at Reyburn, she said, because she had to work extra hard to get an A in algebra I.

"She's a driven young lady who interacts with her peers," Reyburn Principal Barry Jager said. "She takes advantage of every moment."

When Alana grows up, she said she wants to be an orthodontist because she wants people to have confidence in their teeth so they can flash big smiles.