Kayla Harmon’s fifth grade class is just in from lunch-recess on a sunny Friday.
With little prompting, the students move to the front of the classroom. Some sit in kid-size chairs and tables, others sit cross-legged on the ground or on pillows.
At the beginning of the school year, 10-year-old Mia Waid asked her teacher if she could play her guitar and sing in front of the class. Harmon agreed.
Waid stands with her guitar on a throw rug. The fluorescent lights are off, and natural light filters in through large windows facing Mount Juneau. Her 26 classmates are silent, focused on her.
Harmon had seen Waid play around town before the fifth grader asked to play for the class.
“She really connects to the songs,” said Harmon. “Some of the topics are more about love or something and she’s a 10-year-old girl, but I always feel like she just really embodies the lyrics that she’s singing, and it’s so believable when she sings it.”
Today, Waid plays four songs including a class favorite called “Rip Tide” by indie-folk artist Vance Joy. Beyond Joy, this 10-year-old’s inspirations may surprise.
“I like the old stuff like Carol King, Bill Withers, Ray Charles and Michael Jackson, of course,” said Waid.
“I think it’s really fun not to necessarily look at her,” said Harmon, “but look at her peers just like, staring at her basically, with a big grin on their face. They’re so focused on listening to her, and I think they know that it’s taken a lot of time and dedication to be as good as she is.”
Among those peers is Cayman Jardell.
“It’s really inspiring. Like, I used to think that I would never be a football player, but after this, I know I think I can,” said Jardell.
And Audrey Noon.
“Mia wrote a song and that inspired me to, like, come up with my own songs ‘cause one of my career choices is a singer,” said Noon.
“When Mia got up there and was really brave it really inspired me to go do stuff and be really brave,” said Andrew Waldron.
Georgia Lawton is inspired too. “When she did her own song, I love playing guitar so it kind of inspired me to do that as well,” said Lawton.
Waid has advice for getting over the jitters, and maybe, life in general.
“Breathe slowly, and I would say, just like, instead of walking backwards, run toward it. Just like, bolt towards it, pretty much. Like a little figurative language,” said Waid with a laugh.
As for her future?
“I actually want to be an archaeologist, but I want the music to pay for my archaeology,” said Waid.
To hear Waid’s music live, keep an eye out. She’s been known to busk around town.
Correction: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect last name for Mia Waid.