For International Piano Artist Sunny Choi, giving back means going back – to school that is. Since turning her award-winning amateur piano career into a professional venture just over two years ago, Sunny has become a regular piano performer at Casino Rama and the prestigious Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls. Sunny Choi also performs for trade shows, corporate events, upscale weddings and various other events where elegant piano music is featured. Her career has been buoyed by her solid classical music foundation in tandem with her ability to play virtually any song that she hears "by ear" or without the aid of notated music.

This spring Sunny Choi is doing something that she has never done in her professional music career, going backwards. Choi, a University of Toronto graduate, is returning to high school and even elementary school. This regression is really a progression if you view it from the same angle that Sunny does, for she is returning to encourage and motivate young people in an effective way that many parents and teachers truly appreciate. Sunny will be talking to various music classes about the practical side of following your dreams, and as with most things Sunny does, she will be doing it with music.

During her interactive conversation with students, Sunny Choi will be playing contemporary popular songs that the students will immediately recognize and will take song requests from the students as well. Woven into her visit will be frank talk about life after school, the value of hard work and an interactive question and answer session with the students.

At the end of each visit, Sunny Choi will sign autographs and pose for photos with the students that want to take a picture with her. Going beyond the day’s activities, Sunny will provide the students with her social networking contact information so that they can interact with her in a format that they are already familiar with on an ongoing basis.

Sunny Choi knows that "going back" to school is truly moving forward. And while she may not have dreamed she’d ever stand in front of a class of young people and talk about being the best that you can be in life, she is excited to do so.

"I remember sitting in class and wondering where my life was heading. The connection between our formal education and our hopes and dreams are often difficult to see as a young person. However, it is often what happens outside of the classroom - in the hallways and in getting involved in extra-curricular activities, through which we find our true passions. I’m not telling students to follow the path that I have taken, but rather to be fearless in determining what they want to do with their lives and going after their goals with vigor."

Toronto-area teachers that are interested in having Sunny Choi visit their classroom should contact her via her official website.