Scott Riley
San Francisco, California, Usa
When Scott Riley moved to Cambria a year ago last fall, somebody forgot to tell him that this is a town where people come to slow down from the faster pace of other areas.
The music teacher for the Coast Union High School and Cambria Grammar School Districts spends his day hurrying to and from the town’s three schools, and instructing children whose level of musical experience is just as diverse as their ages.
Along with forfeiting his preparation period, Riley usually skips eating during the day, electing, instead, to drink another cup of coffee while rushing from school-to-school.
A self-described “over-achiever”, Riley has always been a hard worker, and while this has led to professional rewards, his work ethic has had other consequences.
When attending Columbia Junior College in Northern California, he decided he wanted to become a professional French horn player.
While carrying an average of 25 units, he still practiced more than three hours every day and eventually progressed from a novice to the first French horn player in all of the school’s bands. And although he finished junior college with a very high grade point average, he was not happy.