Fauquier High School (FHS) is home to many amazing music classes, a favorite among these is the oOrchestra class, taught by Thomas Cummins. Thomas Cummins is the teacher and is loved by many students, even ones who aren't in his class. He has been chosen to receive the Virginia String Teachers Association Award (VASTA). This is a series of recognitions for excellence in string and orchestra education in Virginia.
Cummins' love for music started when he was around the age of ten and wanted to play the piano. Then in sixth6th grade he joined the orchestra and Cummins said, “I had a really good teacher, Mr. Tester, he was my middle school teacher at Warrenton. He really instilled that love for music for me.” This truly inspired him to become an orchestra teacher saying, “ I think it really was my experience in middle school orchestra,” he continued, “I had such an awesome teacher back then and he inspired me to continue what he does.”
Cummings enjoys other things outside of school and music. He is the coach of the FHS swim team here at FHS and even likes to swim himself. Other ways Cummin’s stays active is through running, as , he has also has ran several marathons and half marathons. And of course outside of just being an orchestra teacher he likes to play music for fun as well.
When Cummings found out he received the VASTA award he was very excited and felt that it was an honor for them to choose him. “I was nominated by my college professor," said Cummings. He said the award means a lot to him explaining, “It's good to get recognition,
there's a lot of orchestra teachers across the state,” he proceeds to say, “But it's a pretty tight-knit group, so I think this just kind of helps build the culture here to be even stronger.” His students' reactions were awesome, cheering for him although he didn't tell them, because they found out about it on the FHSFauquier Highschools Instagram page.
This award truly shows how dedicated and great Cumming’s teaching and love for music is. Many agree that he was a great candidate to recieve this award, and FHS students alongside staff were filled with pride and excitement to see their orchestra teacher gain the recognition he deserved. He was a great candidate to receive this award and FHS alongside the students were very proud and excited to see their Orchestra teacher gain the recognition he deserved.
