Fine Arts Electives

Ruth Gray started playing in Orchestra in the 6th grade on the viola, by the time she was in the 9th grade, she knew she wanted to be an orchestra teacher like her teacher at the time. In middle and high school she learned how to play the clarinet, bass clarinet, mallet percussion, and trombone. She participated in the local youth orchestra in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and also participated in the pit orchestra at her school’s yearly musicals. After high school, Ms. Gray attended Carthage College in Kenosha, and obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Music Education with a double emphasis in Instrumental Education and Instrumental Performance on Viola. During her time in Carthage, she also learned how to play the violin, cello, and double bass. After completing her bachelor’s degree, Ms. Gray worked as a substitute teacher in a middle school in Kenosha, where she fell in love with teaching middle school. In 2022, Ms. Gray moved to Tallahassee, Florida to attend Florida State University’s masters program where she obtained her Master’s in Music Education, with a focus on string education. During this time, she co-taught orchestra at two local schools in Tallahassee and also taught private lessons. While Ms. Gray is here at Southside, she hopes to provide students with some of the same opportunities she had growing up such as: playing in a full orchestra, traveling for competitions, and doing side-by-side with high school, college, and professional musicians in Florence.

Since I was a little kid, I sensed my mission in life was to explore new places and help people. When I discovered that I was a teacher at heart, everything made sense. I am a teacher of both English and Spanish as foreign languages, and I strongly believe that teaching is the most honest and sensible way of changing the world: we motivate new generations to be better people every day.

Born in Argentina, I studied to become a teacher of English as a second language, and later expanded my passion to teaching Spanish. Teaching is about exchanging ideas, and language is about understanding new visions of the world. My mission is to unite those two aspects and give students the opportunity to experience different cultures firsthand.

Amy Carmichael is one of the art teachers at Southside Middle School. She is a graduate from Francis Marion University and holds a bachelor's degree in Art Education. She has taught visual arts for 5 years here at Southside. Within those 5 years, she has taught a variety of classes, such as Intro to Art, Digital Art, Fine Arts Academy courses, Costume Design, and 2D art. Mrs. Carmichael also hosts and teaches an after school sewing club for beginner and advanced students wishing to learn the art of sewing and textile art.