SAN ANTONIO – A recent UTSA college graduate who is in the Texas National Guard also happens to be an amazing musician and vocalist.
KSAT 12 is celebrating the best and brightest graduates from across San Antonio.
Azziya Richardson walked across the stage earlier this week, earning her bachelor’s degree in music education and with a minor in business.
Richardson can play five instruments and is the lead vocalist, a pianist and flutist in the 36th infantry division of the Texas National Guard’s Lone Star band.
She’s also going to teach as a middle school choir director in the Comal Independent School District, in New Braunfels.
Despite all her achievements, she says the best advice she’d offer to others is to “stay true to yourself”.
“It’s easy to try to conform to the environment around you, because you feel like that’s what’s going to help you with your success, and I think that’s a lot of what I went through, being a minority, which is why I’m grateful to work in Comal,” Richardson said. “I feel like they needed more representation and being that face, for students that look like myself, is going to be crucial to their development.”
Azziya plans to attend graduate school and then some day open a performing arts high school.
“I want to be well-versed in everything it would take, to be able to select the right candidates to run the schools and teach those kids,” Richardson said. “And be able to have a say in all the process of it, because I’m educated in all of it.”
Some other advice she has for college students: don’t hesitate to ask for help, and don’t be so hard on yourself.