Student Feature: Kira B.

New Division III Peak student Kira Benson gives her recent move to Summit County “two thumbs up.” The 17-year old moved from Ohio in August and is experiencing her first Colorado winter as a local, and she LOVES it! “It’s truly an amazing community and I’ve just felt so welcomed and embraced by the people here--I feel like I’ve known them my whole life.” Although Kira grew up vacationing and skiing in Breckenridge, now that she lives here, she has been branching out and skiing at A-Basin with her friends from Peak and she also hopes to ski with her dad, a ski instructor, in Utah this winter.

In the classroom, Kira is a history buff and finds Jeffrey’s approach to teaching her favorite subject fascinating and comprehensive. In the class, students look at different sides of world conflict and political argument so “it’s not like reading history out of a textbook,” she explains, “It’s about experiencing it.”

Kira’s main passion is music, which she decribes as a ‘form of emotional expression,’ and she is working hard to get a band together comprised of Peak students and possibly other kids from Summit County. A trained fiddle player, Kira finds vocals equally as special, and she has branched out to playing the acoustic and electric guitar, and the Viper, a 5-string fretted electric violin. Kira describes her style of music as “a blend of country with influences of classic rock and roll and always has the foundation of strong and unique songwriting.”

Her debut album, The Radio Plays, was released last summer on Soundcloud and Band Camp, and Kira is forging ahead with her music career and is working with her co-writer to create a portfolio of songs to enter in upcoming songwriting competitions. Whether she’s performing by herself on the street, or stage with professional musicians at the prestegous Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp, Kira’s tries to “perform and write songs that have meaning and connect with people’s emotions,” she says.

Kira’s lifelong goal is to win a country music award or grammy and to be writing music and performing at that level. For Kira, it’s not about the attention but about sharing the songwriting and music that has had a tremendous impact on her life.