Instead of flipping burgers like many teens do as an after-school job, senior Arnav Das has the opportunity to teach violin for beginning violinists.

“I had all of these students that needed to study and I thought it would be a good idea to build our program from within, so the kids that are in chamber orchestra,” music teacher Nate McClendon said. “I thought it would be a good thing for us to have our most advanced players start training our youngest players so that’s something that we started this year.”

Das began teaching for a few friends his sophomore year before orchestra teacher Nate McClendon began a student tutoring program. Das started with three students and five lessons a week for 30 minutes to an hour.

“When I was a freshmen, I saw a lot of the seniors in our orchestra teaching as well, so I said yeah that sounds awesome,” Das said. “[The best part is] helping them improve. It’s interesting to just watch how much they can grow when you give them the proper guidance.”

One of his students is seventh grader Alice Le. Le is a first chair, second violin in Silver Orchestra.

“He always comes with great enthusiasm to teach me,” Le said. “Without him I would not have noticed such a drastic change in my playing.”

Le noticed a massive difference in her playing after the lessons.

“I have improved exponentially. I have tackled many more difficult pieces than I ever attempted before,” Le said.

McClendon said Das is an aloof guy, yet a mature violinist, who he had the pleasure of teaching and watching as he became a great teacher.

“The kid says a lot through his instrument, and you can’t do that if you’re not really internally mature,” McClendon said. “Now you see him in the position where he has to be the mentor, he has to be the grown up, and that’s kind of fun to see happen.”