In her own holiday tradition, 12-year-old high schooler busks for tips to donate to local organizations

Every year, as the days darken earlier and temperatures decrease, 12-year-old Aviela Gordon begins to plot which local charity will reap the rewards of her piano-playing prowess.

The mini maestro has turned busking into a fundraising venture. Each year, she plays for weeks at a local cafe to bring in tips to donate to a regional nonprofit.

For four weeks leading up to the holidays this year, Aviela played for donations to local nonprofit Embrace Washington, an organization that provides tutoring and goods such as toys, beds and suitcases for kids in foster care. She raised $450 for the organization this year, touched by its mission to comfort and support children in the foster system.

“I just wanted to raise money for foster kids to help them have a merry Christmas,” Aviela said.

It is a holiday tradition for the 12-year-old, who has been playing piano since the age of 3, her dad Scott Gordon said, when she would bang on the keys of the keyboard and sing the ABCs. Wanting to use her musical aptitude to help others in the community, Aviela plays each year for a cause. In past years, she has set her sights on organizations that raise awareness about Autism and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

“My dad has always instilled in me the values of helping others and giving back to the community,” Aviela said.

As a concert pianist, Aviela is used to playing in front of strangers. She does not get nervous, rather she enjoys the chance to socialize and meet new people over her keyboard. She has more than 50 songs memorized that she cycles through.

“Aviela can play and not even look at the keys, so she was sitting there talking with people while playing, and they were even more in awe,” Gordon said.

Aviela’s talent doesn’t end at the ivories; she enrolled as a freshman at Gonzaga Prep at the age of 11. In kindergarten, her teachers noticed she was advanced for her age, already reading full sentences and memorized her times tables up to 12, her dad said. After a cognitive test, the school placed her in fourth grade at the age of 5.

Gordon played flashcard math games with Aviela as a toddler and always had classical music on throughout the house. Surrounded by learning, Aviela was eternally curious even at that age, Gordon said, always wanting to build off the knowledge she had.

“We were talking about this earlier today,” Gordon said. “I said, ‘Daddy always just puts you on the path, and then you just keep going; you go by yourself. That’s the whole idea: just keep following where it leads you.”

She spends much of her childhood outside, fostering a curiosity about biology and the natural world. She loves to hike around Riverside State Park, catching snakes and frogs along the Spokane River.

The tweenaged high schooler still carries her thirst for knowledge, taking online courses in college-level calculus and economics just for the love of learning. Aviela feels at home attending Prep, where she said her curiosity is applauded and she does not have trouble making friends. The school’s annual Thanksgiving food drive and other philanthropic opportunities align well with her passion for helping others, she said.

After graduating from Prep, she plans to enroll at Gonzaga University at 15 years old, before she’s able to drive herself to campus. She will likely graduate from college before she is legally able to drink. After that, she is not sure. Years spent playing outside has kindled in Aviela an interest in biology, but the 12-year-old does not have a career in mind yet. For now, she is just focused on her next fundraising venture.

“I’ve always been taught to help others and give back to the community; they do stuff, so we should do stuff to help them,” Aviela said. “Hopefully, it shows others that they should help the community too.”