Learner Spotlight: Ayva Royster

Choosing just one learner to spotlight is always a challenge, but Ayva Royster is one learner who really stands out! At 10 years old, she has already accomplished things many adults only dream about, such as becoming bilingual, performing at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and winning medals in track. 

When she was 5 years old, Ayva went with her mother to watch Debbie Allen’s “Hot Chocolate Nutcracker” and announced that she wanted to perform in the show. Just three years later, after countless hours of daily practice in ballet and other forms of dance, she auditioned and her dream came true. She is now in her foutth year with the Burbank Dance Academy where she trains 12 or more hours every week in ballet, jazz, and contemporary dance. This Christmas she had the privilege of performing with the Miami City Ballet as they performed “Balanchines Nutcracker” at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles. She is competing in her first solo at the Youth America Grand Prix Competition in San Diego in February and was just accepted to the American Ballet Theater summer dance intensive in New York.

Ayva loves to stay active in a variety of ways and she started running track at age 4. Last year, she won the long jump in her age division in the Valley Youth Conference, but has decided to focus only on dance this school year. She has also worked as a print model and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

While she seems to stay very busy with her extracurriculars, Ayva also loves independent studying, especially hands-on science projects. She learns about fascinating topics in science every month at the California Science Center. One of her favorite things about independent studying is the opportunity to do science experiments on a regular basis with her family. She is always eager to show pictures and videos of her latest science and engineering projects to her educational facilitator and others.

She worked hard to master reading, writing and speaking in Spanish at a bilingual school she attended before joining iLEAD and continues to read and write in Spanish to keep up her skills. Her current favorite reading genre is comic novels. She writes excellent creative stories at her learning center and is excited to start a cooking class for the spring semester. Ayva’s determination and passion for everything she tries is truly an inspiration!