What did you do after Valley? Where did your life take you? 

I went to ASU for college, and then Yale for my Master’s. Both degrees were in guitar performance. I then lived in Germany for about a year and studied with a classical guitarist over there, as well as traveled around Europe and played solo guitar concerts. After that, I decided to move to New York City for about 5 years and played on Broadway in a variety of shows, including “Jersey Boys,” “Mary Poppins,” “One Man Two Guvnors,” “Big Fish,” and “Chicago.” I recently relocated to Nashville where I now tour with a country artist named Michael Ray. I travel between Nashville and New York often for work.

Tell us a little about your daily work:
Right now I’m on tour as guitarist for a Warner Bros. Country Artist named Michael Ray. It’s a lot of traveling on buses and planes, but we are having a blast playing every night. We just finished up a college tour with Sam Hunt, and have a lot of festivals booked for the whole summer and fall.
I recently got to play the Grand Ole Opry for the first time and that was really fun!

What’s one surprising thing we don’t know about you?
I’m a very picky eater. I hate mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions the most.

While you were at VCHS, which teachers, coaches or classmates had the biggest impact on you?
I loved class with Mrs. Templeton – she was always really fun!

How do you stay connected with your friends from Valley and VCHS?
There are only a handful of friends from Valley that I really stay in touch with, but Facebook makes it easy to at least see what people have been up to and all the new things happening in their life.

What’s one lasting memory you have of VCHS?
The lip sync contest s- I remember doing a Stray Cats song one year, which was a blast.

Do you have any advice for current students? 
-It goes fast… I know it’s cliche but it feels like yesterday I was walking down the halls at Valley and I blinked and turned 30.
-Have fun and prioritize your goals. Decide what you want out of life and go for it. If you don’t know what you want, that’s totally fine! Try different things and figure out what it is you do want. Don’t settle.
-Be who you want. Don’t “pick a box” to put yourself in.
-Travel
-Travel more