For Ava Davis, playing the violin has always been more than learning an instrument. It’s been a pathway to life filled with purpose.
This fall, the Fairview High School Class of 2025 graduate will attend Baldwin Wallace University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts to major in music education, a decision shaped by years of hard work and admiration for music educators in her family and at FHS.
Most recently, her passion for both resulted in a life-changing opportunity.
At the school’s annual Scholars Reception ceremony in May, Davis was awarded $80,419 by the H. Ronald and Nancy B. Pottorff Scholarship. The scholarship is annually given to a Fairview graduate pursuing a degree in education.
The moment her name was announced was one she and her mom will never forget.
“My heart was beating so fast, I literally thought my mom could hear it,” Davis recalled. “But, I really didn’t think I was going to get it. I was nervous to see who won it. And then he said it was for $80,000, and I remember the entire auditorium gasped.
“Then he said the recipient of the scholarship was Ava Davis, my name, and like my Mom just gasped so loud. She immediately started sobbing,” Davis added. “I wasn’t expecting it, and so it didn’t even feel real. I stood up, and everyone was staring at me. I walked past my friends, and their jaws were on the floor…When I went back to my seat, my mom was just hysterical. She was losing it.”
Davis also earned two additional scholarships that evening: the FHS Class of 1973 Alumni Scholarship and the Fairview Park Music and Theatre Association Scholarship. In total, she was awarded nearly $82,000.
“Their impact is life-changing,” Davis expressed. “It’s not only just giving a student an opportunity to pursue their dreams, it’s really changing their life.”
“It didn’t really hit me at first, but now that I’m thinking about it and I’m actually going through the numbers for BW, I’m realizing that it’s basically going to be a full ride,” Davis stated. “It’s going to cover everything after financial aid and other different scholarships and stuff.”
Davis admitted
that college finances were a concern for her and her family.
“I was so nervous about that, it almost made me not go to college at all, or BW,” she added.
Her involvement in music and orchestra in Fairview Park also changed her life for the better.
“Orchestra has really been the main place for me to meet people, and everyone is very welcoming and kind, including Mrs. Needham,” Davis explained. “It’s just been the main thing during the day to look forward to at school.”
Davis explained that on most school days, you could find her in the FHS Orchestra Room at least “an hour or two” practicing the violin, in addition to practicing at home. After visiting her aunt, who teaches music at the Berea City School District, she knew that music education was a potential career for her.
“I really enjoyed the environment, and I liked the idea of teaching,” she said. “As I got older, I realized how big of an impact Mrs. Needham had on me, and I wanted to share that, or be that for others.”
“She is a natural-born leader,” Director of Fairview Orchestras Hillery Needham said. “She will help her fellow violin players if they’re struggling with a spot. She is like a mini-teacher in her own right, and she has been. She’s been helping her colleagues, and she’s been helping me.”
Needham noted that the drive Davis had to make herself, and others, better musicians was unique for a high school student.
She twice attended an Ohio String Teachers Workshop in Columbus. She also regularly attended workshops held at Baldwin Wallace by Dr. David Pope, an associate professor of music education and the professional studies department chair at the university.
“Teachers take that workshop and he brings in big string pedagogues from all over the country,” Needham explained. “So, I think at least the last two summers she went. So, she’s not even a music education student yet, and she’s already done all this stuff.”
Needham also said that Davis helped create a performance group at FHS known as the Fairview Fiddles. The group practiced after school and during mentoring periods, and would perform at the conclusion of orchestra concerts as families were leaving.
“Her and Mia Karp organized that, and that was 100% on their own,” Needham said. “I never helped them. I never even came to a rehearsal. They just grabbed kids and played for fun. I mean, these are the things she just naturally comes up with and wants to execute.”
Needham described Davis as “tailor-made” to apply for the Pottorff scholarship.
“She works wonderfully with young kids,” Needham added. “She worked with the sixth graders. With just her own peers, which can be the most difficult thing, she was able to help them. And really, she is why I have such a strong violin section. They’re not just getting me as a teacher, they have Ava teaching them, too.”
Ronald and Nancy Pottorff were both former educators in the Fairview Park City School District. For 25 years, Nancy was a second grade teacher at Gilles-Sweet Elementary. Dr. H. Ronald Pottorff taught math and coached football at FHS in the 1960s, eventually becoming the chair of the math department at Cuyahoga Community College. They were residents of Fairview Park for 55 years.
“Their impact is life-changing,” Davis expressed. “It’s not only just giving a student an opportunity to pursue their dreams, it’s really changing their life.”