Ayden Wood, a 5th grade student at GAC, has been selected as one of the winners for the Georgia Music Educators Association Composition Contest. Students from across the state submitted musical compositions that were judged by a panel of esteemed music educators. Ayden is one of 16 students recognized and is the only winner in elementary school. 

Her composition, “Poinsettias”, will be featured on a recital during the GMEA In-Service Conference on January 25, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. in the Oconee Room of the Classic Center in Athens.

The idea for this piece came to Ayden during a piano lesson. “We were practicing and I started hitting a few notes and they sounded really good. My teacher wrote them down and we kept making it better and better until it turned into a song.” Her inspiration for the title came from a place close to home. “My neighbor loves poinsettias and we give her some every Christmas. She and her husband loved when we came over and talked. The husband suffered from heart trouble and there would often be ambulances at the house. Before he died, he said he would like for his wife to keep getting poinsettias. So this song is in a way dedicated to her.”

Ayden is an inspiration to other budding musicians in her grade. And while she could very well have a career in music, she hopes to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a preschool teacher.