ORLANDO, Fla. — Even though it was the end of the school day at Forsyth Woods Elementary School, about a dozen students were excited to gather after school for one more lesson before they went home.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic, however, were the furthest things from their minds.

Music lessons and instruments can be a pricey obstacle for many schools and students, but these students are learning to play the violin for free thanks to A Gift for Music.

“We serve eight different Title One schools in Orange County Public Schools,” said A Gift for Music’s Director Chad McClellan.

Since 1999, A Gift for Music has been a fixture in local schools providing free instruments and music lessons to students.

“Music education is crucial to the development of students. It helps them with things like teamwork, helps them with leadership,” McClellan said. “Studies show it improves student attendance. When it comes to school, they test higher, have higher grade point averages.”

Since 2012, A Gift for Music said 100% of the students who’ve completed the program from 3rd grade through high school went on to graduate high school and continue their education in college.

The program hopes the confidence students develop over the years sticks with them even if they don’t pursue careers in music.

“They took a violin when they were 8 years old, they put in their hands and they said ‘I could do this. This is something hard. This is a difficult task, but I could overcome this,’ and I could do anything that I put my mind to,” McClellan said.

A Gift for Music’s dedication to developing this determination, and instilling a lifelong appreciation for the arts in local students are some of the admirable accomplishments that distinguishes this nonprofit as a WESH 2 CommUNITY Champion.

“I’m thrilled by this, especially since it’s our 25th year serving the Central Florida community with free music education for their students,” McClellan said. “It means everything to us that we can let the community know we’re here. You may not have heard of us, but that’s. We’ve served 10,000 students since 1999, and we’re always looking to expand.”