BY TATIANA SABANERO / PHOTO BY TATIANA SABANERO

Recently, choir teacher Tyler Wigglesworth was given the title of Teacher of the Year for the Fine Arts department. His hard work and dedication has been shown since the beginning of his career, just two years ago at Bulldog Country. However, we never really got a full inside look into what shaped Wigglesworth’s desire to be a choir instructor and what gave him the skills to be one with the title of Teacher of the Year.

Wigglesworth grew up in Glendora, very close to West Covina itself. As far as dreams go, he originally wanted to be a lawyer but then changed his mind once he fully developed a love for music.

“I didn’t fall in love with music, the way I do now, until high school. My dreams and aspirations began to shift,” said Wigglesworth.

He later revealed that he did not take choir in high school and never imagined himself as a choir director. His exposure to the fine arts came when he was attending Biola University, originally studying to become a vocalist or worship pastor.

“When I went into college and saw what a choir was, and a director was, that’s when I fell in love. I said to myself that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” said Wigglesworth.

His inspiration for having a great and diverse program came from his own experience in high school. Wigglesworth said, “There wasn’t really a diverse program in high school available to me. When I saw what choir really was I knew I really wanted to give that diverse experience with lots of opportunity and potential for growth. I knew I wanted to impact the next generation of musicians through choir.”

Wigglesworth has made the best of efforts to impact the lives of his students, but WCHS has had an impact on him as well.

“It has been phenomenal. I love West Covina High School and I could not work at a better place. All of my colleagues have terrible jobs compared to me. My favorite part about teaching here is the comraderie. I have never seen such an active and so invested student population. The students really care about what happens. They just don’t just talk, they make it happen. To be a part of that and to lead it from a musical standpoint is such a cool thing,” said Wigglesworth.

Wigglesworth was greatly honored and humbled by this award.

“All the teachers in the Fine Arts are stellar teachers. They all bring such knowledge and experience , it’s humbling to be chosen,” said Wigglesworth.

In addition to this year’s award, Wigglesworth received Rookie Teacher of the Year last school year.