About Us
Fernanda Cuevas is the orchestra director at both Canyon High School and Canyon Middle School. She graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education in the fall of 2023. Ms. Cuevas began playing the violin in NEISD’s 5th Grade Strings program. At UTSA, she studied in Dr. Westney’s violin studio and played in the UTSA Orchestra, where she also served as orchestra manager. Her primary instrument is the violin, but she also has experience with the viola, cello, and bass.
She was also involved with the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Chapter, where she worked her way up to become the chapter’s President. Cuevas was also a teacher with the UTSA String Project program. In the Summer, Ms. Cuevas usually works at YOSA's Summer Symphony Camp.
Throughout her time at UTSA, she had many opportunities to travel. The UTSA String Project program won the Outstanding National String Project Consortium Award in 2023 through ASTA. The ASTA Convention was held in Florida, and the UTSA School of Music paid for her and two other String Project teachers to attend and represent the university, accepting the award in person. As a student teacher, Ms. Cuevas joined the Churchill Orchestra in Chicago for their Midwest Clinic performance in December of 2023. Ms. Cuevas also got the opportunity of a lifetime to study abroad in Italy through the COLFA Semester in Urbino program in the Spring of 2022.
Ms. Cuevas completed her student teaching semester through the UTSA COEHD program at Churchill High School under the direction of Mr. Jason Thibodeaux and Eisenhower Middle School under the direction of Mrs. Annette Solano.
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May 12th CMS Orchestra Concert
- Concert Uniform: All orchestra members have FORMAL dress requirements for our concerts and performances:
Full length black outfit. Black dress pants, black dress shirt, black dress shoes, and black socks, black dress or skirt, etc. - If your student plays the bass or cello and they have one at home, now is a good time to start planning on when to transport them to school for use in the concert.
- Student Arrival Times: the goal is to have time to unpack, tune and see who uses which instrument!
2nd Period- 5:45pm
1st Period- 6:00pm
- After School- students are welcome to stay after school. However, Ms. Cuevas does not finish teaching at CHS until 4:30pm. After the students are dismissed from their last class period, they are expected to go to the cafeteria and wait under CMS AP supervision. The students need to be well behaved, and respectful. They will be representing the CMS Orchestra while they wait, and it is important to be responsible for ourselves. Staying after school is a privilege. Students will not be permitted to stay after school for concerts if they cannot behave themselves.