Featured Student: Callie Worthen

Callie Worthen

SOUNDS Academy student Callie Worthen shares her experiences as a child on the big stage, growing up with her siblings and on how she has used her entrepreneurial spirit in helping to make masks during COVID-19.

Q: Tell us about you and your musical journey: Who are you, what is your instrument (why did you choose it), and how long have you been in SOUNDS Academy?

My name is Callie Worthen and I play the violin. I’ve been in SOUNDS Academy for 2 years, ever since the 6th grade. I played the violin back when I was 5 years old in Minnesota. When my family moved to Arizona, we could not find a teacher here, but when my brother went to middle school he found SOUNDS Academy. My sister and I started SOUNDS the following year because we wanted to become a strings trio. My brother Calvin plays the Viola and my sister Caleia plays the Cello.

Q: What do you like about being in SOUNDS Academy?

SOUNDS is about helping kids who don’t have access to instruments get instruments and learn. We don’t just work on our instrument skills, we work on our people skills and character values. SOUNDS doesn’t just develop musicians, they develop people. I also like our instrument Petting Zoos.

Q: What character value helps you the most during the lockdown of COVID?

Perseverance helps me the most. Since my siblings and I are homeschooled now, it’s been difficult trying to adapt. It’s been difficulty adapting. There have been things that come up and we have to keep going.

Q: Why is music education important for children? Why are programs like SOUNDS Academy important? What role, if any, do you think SOUNDS Academy and the music education you’ve received, played in shaping who you are today?

It is important for everyone to have something in their life besides just going to school and learning. My mom calls SOUND a creative outlet and says we need a way to release things through leisure activities. My family has alway done things like Broadway and Choir when I was younger. SOUNDS has been my favorite program so far.

Q: What have you been doing during COVID

At the beginning of COVID we went to see Black Violin for a field trip.  Now we are doing a project on City States such as Monaco, Singapore and Vatican City (these are the only three in the world). I learned that a city state has its own form of government and rules. It’s a whole country but within another city. City States have kings and queens as well. I learned about this through being homeschooled by my dad, he asked me what they were and I didn’t know, so I had to look them up.

Q:  Tell us something about you that you want the whole wide world to know? This can be about anything and everything.

I did ballet when I was 5. I learned how to play chess from watching my brother when he was in a chess club.

I am also an entrepreneur. I make masks, clothing and bags. Got into making masks because Mom and my brother Calvin work in an assisted living facility. My Mom asked me to make masks for facility workers in the kitchen. I started to create my own patterned masks and donated them to the facility job. I started to post pictures of my masks on Facebook and then my uncle asked me to make some. I heard people were making a lot of masks due to COVID-19, so I decided to sell my masks.

I started my own business a while ago when I lived in Chicago, making clothing and bags, so masks was an easy addition. I got my startup money from working in Chicago with my Uncle with his graphic design company and I use Facebook to get the word out. My company is called Imagine Handmade. You can see some of my products by clicking on my Imagine Handmade Facebook Page Here. My company’s name describes what I do since everything is Handmade.