Principal Garcia's Newsletter

Hello! My name is Adriana Adkins, and I am the band director and one of two instrumental music teachers at Torey J. I have been teaching in Madison since 2005. I have worked at all three elementary schools and MJS.

I started flute lessons in the fourth grade (like many of our young musicians at TJS do!), and developed a love of music that has turned into a wonderful career. I also took lessons on the baritone saxophone so I could play in the jazz band. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, and although I spent much of my schooling studying art and French, I decided to pursue music education at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. I love how music is a language that anyone, regardless of where they live, what language they speak, or what religion they practice, can learn. It is the ultimate way we have as human beings to connect with one another. I wanted to share that love and gift with students.

After graduating, I accepted a teaching position in my hometown of Kingston, New York, in the beautiful Hudson Valley where I was raised. I also enrolled in the Masters program at Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City. I loved my time there, at the college, and living in the city. When I completed my degree, I moved to Madison and started teaching band and general music at Central Avenue School and Torey J.

I met my now husband, James, in 2014; we were married in 2015, and we live in beautiful High Bridge in Hunterdon County. In 2017, we welcomed our twin boys, James (JT) and Theodore (Theo) into the world. Our daughter, Honora, was born in 2020. Needless to say, things are busy at the Adkins house!

While teaching and family life are very important to me, I also love hiking, knitting, and listening to music and podcasts. We are also looking forward to getting a puppy soon, so I have been spending much time lately getting ready to welcome a new addition to our family!

DATE CHANGE: Our next General PTO meeting has been rescheduled due to conflicts with other district-wide programs that evening. Please join us in the New Year on Wednesday, January 11th at 7:30pm in the TJS Art Room for our next PTO meeting.

December is here and we hope you’re all looking forward to the holiday season with your families! Looking back on November, we have so many amazing volunteers to thank for making it such a successful month.

-Thank you to Scholastic Book Fair committee - Lori Torell, Patricia Alvarez, and Megan Downing. The Book Fair returned to the Jaguar Jungle and they organized such a fun day of book shopping on Saturday for our families with guest readers and projects. Thank you to the MANY volunteers who took a shift to help out. It truly takes a village!

-Thank you to the Turkey Trot committee - Jill Sabol and her team, Joanna Maulbeck, Dana Blades, Vanessa Anderson, and Danielle Dixon. Spirits were high, even though the temps were low, and it was a great way to kick off Thanksgiving week together as a school community!

-Thank you to our Hospitality committee - Lisa Baude and Marisa Chandler for organizing snacks and lunch for the teachers after the half days leading up to Thanksgiving. They always add special touches to let the TJS staff know how much we care.

-Thank you to our pie committee - Maria Beacom, Whitney Bailly, Ashley Rader, Christy O’Connor, and Amber Thomas. Families enjoyed delicious pies from Baba’s, and it supported the PTO! Thanks to the generosity of our families with extra donations, we were able to provide pies to our office and custodial staff. We also gifted 26 additional pies to the teachers who entered our raffle!