Trevor Thibert

When he was three-and-a-half years old, Trevor Thibert of Corvallis started taking fiddle lessons along with his grandma, Pem Winquist of Eugene. "He came down for nursery school on Monday and Tuesday," says Winquist, who herself began fiddle lessons at LCC at age 50. "Monday after school we had a lesson with Jenny Humphrey, an amazing fiddle teacher." Thibert made his public debut a year later, along with his grandma, at the Green Valley Nursing Home, and he has since played many nursing-home gigs with her and with grandpa John Winquist, another musical late-bloomer, on guitar. "I've played at the Whiteaker Thanksgiving Dinner the last three years," he adds. In the summer, he and his grandpa play old-time fiddle music at farmers' markets in Corvallis, Springfield, and Eugene. Contributions left in his fiddle case are matched by JW Fowler Construction, his dad's employer, and donated to Linn-Benton Food Share and Food for Lane County. "We raised 350 dollars," he notes. In addition to his music, Thibert attends second grade at Mountain View Elementary and plays soccer, baseball, and chess. His team, the Mountain View Chess Eagles, almost went to state: "We needed one more win."