Her favorite song is the jazz standard “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” which is fitting because JoMS volunteer teacher Anna Helms brings a burst of sunshine with her every time she enters our doorway. Anna is a senior at the University of Tennessee majoring in jazz saxophone, with a minor in Spanish. She’s been volunteering at the School since her sophomore year and we couldn’t be happier about that. Her current students are Calin and Danyil. Anna, who’s from Morristown, began her music career in the fifth grade, playing the clarinet. She switched to the  saxophone as a freshman in high school, so she could join a community jazz band. You can catch her gigging all over Knoxville these days. The Anna Helms Jazz Quartet plays once a month at Bistro at the Bijou. She’s in the swing band Old City Buskers and also plays in a funk band called the Get Down. Their next show is May 31 at Scruffy City Hall.

Anna’s graduating from UT in August. She thinks her next step might involve teaching music professionally, a move we fully support! She describes her experience as a volunteer JoMS teacher as “really nice.” It’s satisfying “to do something where I’m just focusing on helping the community,” she explains. “A lot of being a college student is focusing on yourself and trying to do things for yourself and improve your own marketability or whatever. That’s not my favorite. I really like teaching and building relationships with other people and doing something that helps the community.