Many students on campus have jobs, however one student is her own boss.

Junior Uttaraa Garg, utilizes her long-term talent as a way to encourage young students who are new to piano.

“I started teaching piano and violin since I was 13,” Garg said. “I started playing piano when I was three so I thought it would be a fun way to earn money while also teaching other kids what I love to do.”

Although many students may have jobs in retail or as waiters, Garg teaches piano to students ranging from 5 to 13 years old.

“Being self employed, your work hours are really flexible and you determine how much you get to be paid also, so instead of having a fixed salary from another employer,” Garg said.

Adult music teachers may be more common, but Garg thinks being younger allows for a better student-teacher relationship.

“I think they’re more receptive I guess to me because I guess,” Garg said. “Since I’m younger than most piano teachers I think the students can relate to me more and try to understand what I’m trying to say. I can also relate to them more.”

“It’s really cool. Uttaraa just works through everything with you,” student Alyssa Murphy said. “She doesn’t care if you like ask questions that are a little bit silly. She can relate to you with things that she’s done. I see her as a piano teacher, a role model, someone that I want to be, because she’s really good with music and she’s always there for you and she’s just a really great person.”

With three kids in multiple activities, parent Laura Murphy found it easier to work with Garg.

“We went to this teacher and she was an excellent and all but it actually required us to go to the teacher’s home which was about 15 minutes away and having to wait the time at the teacher’s home for the lessons, it got to be a little difficult,” parent Laura Murphy said. “We kind of reevaluated, spoke with Uttaraa and asked her about to consider doing lessons for our family at home. We thought it would be more interesting for someone like Uttaraa to teach the kids in the comfort of our home.”

Although she doesn’t want to pursue piano teaching as a career, Garg has high hopes for her students as well as herself.

“I hope that more students would be inspired and will continue to play piano even when I graduate college,” Garg said. “When I graduate college, I don’t know whether I will be teaching and I hope we will keep in touch.”