Holly Dunaway Andersen

I studied music at the U, served a mission in Guatemala, and took a teaching job in AZ in 2002 to be able to live somewhere warm. I don't know if I was exactly thinking I'd be here forever, but I married an Arizona boy, and it looks like we will be. We never dreamed we'd have 5 kids, but we got a bonus when our twin boys were born in 2013.

In my life before twins, I had a private Suzuki violin studio in our home, and I played with a local community orchestra that kept me pretty busy. I had to give up everything with the twins, and a lot of days I think, what am I doing? Then I look at my kids and think, wow, I did that?! I'm sure I'll be able to rekindle some of my old passions here soon, but I'm thinking there might be a reinvention of sorts when the twins get in school. Who knows?

The moments that were most influential for me in high school didn't happen at Cedar High, but happened at places like All State Orchestra, Tuachan's Youth Symphony, the University of Utah's recruiting orchestra, and performing in Carnegie Hall with the Madrigals senior year. These experiences opened up a bigger world that I could relate to and defined who I wanted to be.

My favorite classes were AP American History with Mr. Anderson and AP English with Mrs. Roundy. Mrs. Thorley and Mr. Rigby were obviously very influential and made a lot of the above-mentioned possible.

My favorite memories are driving around with friends in my VW van, having fights with water fire extinguishers, chasing boys for Sadie Hawkins (people never believe me when I tell them about that), and attending football and basketball games with friends. I was fortunate to have the best friends in high school, and I've still never found any better.

My high school soundtrack would be "Tootsie Roll" (69 Boyz), "One" (U2), "Linger" (The Cranberries), and "Stay" (Lisa Loeb). Every now and then, I'll get some old choir and orchestra songs going through my mind (for better or worse): "God Is My Rock", Faure's Requiem, "Happy Holidays", "A Red, Red Rose", "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", Themes from "Jurassic Park", etc. Anyone else with me?