Ashley Music is an eighth-grade science/biology teacher at Fegely Middle School. This is her second year at Fegely, but this was not what she had in mind for her career during her freshman year of college.
Like most college freshmen, Music had plans for her future but her plans changed as she grew. During her time at Ball State University, she found her real passion.
“I was set on being a biologist from day one. I majored in biology with a concentration in wildlife conservation. I wanted to work for the Indiana Dunes National Park; that was my goal throughout college until my senior year. That is when things started to change, and I decided I wanted to teach,” said Music.
Biology class has the potential to be an exciting experience for students—Music makes that potential come to life.
“I love making science interesting,” she said. “We do a lot of fun labs like making bread and butter, growing bacteria, and extracting DNA. It brings science to life for the kids, and I love watching their reactions.”
Music truly cares about every single student she interacts with on a day-to-day basis. This makes it such a positive experience for kids to enjoy coming to school.
“I love teaching at Fegely. I am extremely grateful that I get to work with the kids that I do,” Music said. “They truly make me feel like I make a difference every single day.”
Before becoming a teacher, Music was a student. She knows from her past experiences how to connect with the kids and give them the best experience possible in the classroom.
“I love biology. It's my favorite, but I really wanted to work with kids. I wanted to help kids because I had a hard time in college, and I wanted to help other kids that sometimes felt the way I did,” she said.
While in the midst of job searching, Music applied to be a teacher at Fegely. Little did she know how welcoming the faculty would be.
“My favorite part about working at Fegely is our principal, Ann Marie Caballero,” she said. “She interviewed and hired me right away. She has taken me under her wing, and she provides me with a lot of guidance and support. It is nice to work for someone like that; it is really easy to work for someone like her. Honestly, the whole team is awesome.”
Like every teacher, Music has a life outside the classroom. One of her many hobbies involves something very different from what she teaches kids about every day: an instrument.
“Something that most people do not know about me is that I play the violin. Actually, Mrs. Deborah Sherwood at Fegley was my first violin teacher. She made me fall in love with the violin, and I stuck with it throughout college.”
Music’s time at Fegely is just getting started, and to say she is excited for the future is an understatement. The kids at Fegely Middle School are in great hands.