Student of the Month: Amiruthaa Amudharasan

The honor “Student of the Month'' was created this past year to shine a spotlight on musicians who go the extra mile to make themselves and those around them succeed. The final candidates for SOTM are hand-selected from anonymous nominations.

As of now, we’ve received many recommendations from students voicing their support for several well-natured peers. It’s assuring how good deeds don’t go unnoticed, even in our novel form of learning. For freshmen, many have never even experienced the synchronicity of orchestra, let alone stepped foot on campus. So, the aforementioned makes our January Student of the Month exceptionally noteworthy!

Amiruthaa Amudharasan, the January Student of the Month

Amiruthaa Amudharasan is a 15-year-old cellist in Concert Orchestra. And, she is one of few freshmen who auditioned their way into the most advanced orchestra that is open to 9th graders. As a talented musician, Amiruthaa attributes much of her musical ability to her early start in piano, which she has been playing for 11 years. In an interview with us, she said, “Playing piano [contributed to] orchestra because it gave me a foundation for my musical knowledge, and it helps with rhythm and intonation.” She particularly excels in the daily musical trivia, in which Ms. Chen plays a clip of an orchestral piece and and asks various questions regarding the composer, ensemble, and musical style. Her advanced recollection of musical phrases and eras from piano playing enables her to answer these questions in the chat with precision and speed.

Amiruthaa featured here playing cello at the

2019 Winter Concert at Foothills Middle School

Like many other students in the orchestra program at Arcadia High, Amiruthaa admits that she too has struggled in the learning situation this year. “Meeting new people through a virtual setting is a little more difficult”, she says, “[but] having social activities definitely helps to get to know more about the people in our class”. Her active participation in orchestra caught the attention of Ms. Chen, who wrote, “Amiruthaa is eager to learn and always has a positive attitude. She has been a helpful and kind leader for the Concert Orchestra cellos, which is not an easy thing to do as a freshman leading upperclassmen”. Her duties as Principal Cellist include facilitating group bonding and helping her fellowcellists find ways to practice effectively. Her direction and guidance proved successful in the virtual winter concert, when the melodious harmonies coming from the cello section blended seamlessly together with the rest of the orchestra.

Regardless of all that’s happening right now, Amiruthaa still finds time to destress with her hobbies, which include video games, reading, calligraphy, and of course, piano and cello. “Music has always been a big part of my life, and it makes me really happy to be able to play an instrument”, she wrote, “Being in orchestra gives me a way to hopefully share that feeling with other people”.