UTT Performing Arts Graduate Karissa Solomon

Fresh out of high school in 2012, KARISSA SOLOMON left Tobago to study the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music at The University of Trinidad and Tobago’s (UTT) Academy for Performing Arts (APA). Months earlier, the then sixteen-year old arrived for her audition at UTT Campus at NAPA earlier than expected, unexpectedly changing her life forever. While awaiting her audition, Karissa unknowingly witnessed a rehearsal for that year’s Consortium of Disabilities Organization (CODO) Music Festival for Persons with Disabilities. Weeks later, she saw the full performance being broadcast on local television, and yearned to be a part of the production.

A year later, Karissa received a call from Mrs. Deborah Moore-Kushmaul, former Head of Percussion at UTT, who in observing Karissa’s work ethic, thought she would be a good fit for UTT’s Teaching Artists programme, a course customarily reserved for those who have already completed their first year of study. She accepted the offer, and has not looked back since.

On her first day of teaching, she was introduced to the programme’s students under the CODO umbrella, and it was at that point her goals pivoted. Her desire transitioned from wanting to become a performing artist, to becoming a teaching artist for students with disabilities. She was exactly where she wanted to be. Karissa’s first ever CODO music festival was a surreal experience. She shares, “Seeing the various amazing performances by each school, watching the pure joy on the students’ faces as they performed their hearts out…it is a memory that I will always hold on to.”

In 2014, Karissa became a mentor at CODO. Soon after, she had her first visit to the Lady Hochoy School in Cocorite. She recalls a few persons telling her how difficult of a time they had getting through to the students, but from the moment she stepped foot in the school and met the staff and students, everything was fine. Thankfully, she was able to utilise the skills and knowledge gained as a student of the University, and apply it to novel situations which she faced. In her final year as a UTT student, and after discussions with the Senior Teacher at the Lady Hochoy School, Karissa was offered what she considers her dream job.

It has been four years since Karissa became the Music Teacher at Lady Hochoy School, Cocorite and she is responsible for the reintroduction of the school’s steel orchestra, and the creation of a school choir. She currently oversees relations with CODO at the Lady Hochoy School, Cocorite, and she continues to mentor new Student Teaching Artistes. To date, she has mentored ten novice Student Teaching Artistes, and hopes to be able to share her knowledge with several more as time goes by.