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Mission in

Motion

Supermarket cashier by day, virtual MET fan

by night, scholarship recipient Anna Teunis

expands her world in surprising ways.”

With the cancellation of the Phil’s spring classical concert, the pursue a double major in music performance and possibly
recipient of the Phil’s annual music scholarship, then-junior Anna math. She uses her Phil scholarship funds toward lessons, as she
Teunis faced a string of disappointments and changes this past prepares her recordings to accompany her application to college.
spring. However, the student musician was too busy to give it

much thought. Feeling deprived of in-person entertainment, Anna took
advantage of free online opportunities. She and a good friend
Anna has been working 25-30 hours at a local grocery store since happened upon an offering from the MET (The Metropolitan
the pandemic hit. “A lot of older workers didn’t feel comfortable Opera). “I’ve never had any interest in opera, but the MET started
working, so I increased my hours. There were so many changes, releasing a different performance each week and we turned
which were stressful, but eventually I settled into a routine.” it into something fun. In fact, we started inviting one special
guest to join us. Now I have an appreciation for something I
The Silver Lake Regional High School student and her fellow never would have otherwise.” Anna hopes to go to the MET
classmates were sent home in mid-March. Things were someday, perhaps to see her favorite opera to date, Puccini’s

confusing for a time as people tried to navigate this unexpected The Girl of the Golden West.
course. For Anna that meant more hours at the grocery store,
and a “weird transition from a schedule I knew so well to With new experiences, the young Kingston resident gained new
something random.” perspectives. “I’m interested in performance, so I never thought
I would need to know much technology, but this Covid-period
When asked about her French horn practice and a typical day: has changed that.” Anna took courses through Wave Learning
“Wake up, warm up before I go to work, work my shift, come Festival, a free live learning platform, where students engage
home and practice, do something else for a while, practice with other students on a variety of topics. She went on to co-

again.” She really liked this approach because she didn’t feel teach a class, and applied to be a tutor.
pressed for time anymore, and adds, “The smaller practice
sessions throughout the day felt like they were more effective “This unexpected resource helped me make connections with
as I worked on fundamentals.” Overall, she feels that she has people from all over the country. It’s not unusual for me to
improved, which was her goal with pre-screen recordings on be on a Zoom call with someone from California. I see how
the horizon in preparation for college applications. virtual education, while it has some limitations, can be a viable
option.” While most people felt their world had gotten smaller
Anna has fallen in love with a few universities and wants to
in isolation, Anna made her world larger.

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