Perryville High School senior Ayla Schuler has been selected by students and staff to deliver the student commencement address on Friday evening, when 208 members of the PHS Class of 2025 graduate.
Ayla, who graduates Magna Cum Laude, is the daughter of Wendy Schuler and Marion Layton of Perryville. She is the granddaughter of Bill Schuler and the late Aurelia Schuler, and Bill Hopfer and the late Sharon Springer.
After graduation, Ayla will attend Southeast Missouri State University where she will major in vocal music education with piano as her primary instrument. She has earned the 2025 John Philip Sousa Band Award, and Southeast Missouri State University’s Copper Dome, Residence Life Leadership, and Residence Life Supplemental Scholarships.
She has been an honor roll student all four years of high school, and is a member of National Honor Society, Academic Team, and Exploration of the Arts Club. She has been a member of the PHS Band for all four years and joined the Choir program in her sophomore year. Ayla has excelled in both music programs, first earning an Outstanding Rating at the MSHSAA State Large Ensemble Contest as a freshman, and participating in the SEMO Honor Band as a percussionist her sophomore year. In 10th grade, she was awarded a spot as Soprano 2 in the All-District Choir, and earned three gold medals and one silver medal at the MSHSAA Solo and Ensemble District Contest for piano solo, vocal solo, vocal sextet, and percussion quintet. She went on to earn three silver medals at the State Solo and Ensemble Contest for piano solo, vocal solo, and vocal sextet.
In her junior year, Ayla was named section leader for the front ensemble and percussion sections. She earned three gold medals at the Solo and Ensemble District Contest for piano solo, vocal solo, and vocal sextet, and earned two gold and one silver medal at the State Contest. She was also awarded a spot as Soprano 2 in the All-District Choir for the second year. She was awarded a spot in the MCDA Honor Choir and the SEMO Honor Band.
During her senior year, Ayla again served as the front ensemble and percussion sections leader and the soprano section leader. She was awarded spots as Soprano 2 in the All-District Choir, Soprano 1 alternate in the MCDA All-State Choir, Soprano 1 in the MCDA Honor Choir, SEMO Honor Band, Mr. L Honor Band, and Quad State Choir Festival.
Ayla earned the Band Camp Spirit Stick all 4 years of high school. She was invited on the Missouri Ambassadors Of Music Tour of Europe and the Youth Tour of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, earned the Rotary Youth Leadership Award, and won the prestigious Better Business Bureau Student of Ethics Torch Award. She was voted Sweetheart Queen her senior year. Ayla had a horror story published in “Twisted Tales,” competed with the PHS Academic Team for three years, and has volunteered at the senior center bingo, New Life Mission Inn fundraising concerts, plays piano at the senior center every Thanksgiving and Christmas, and has volunteered at the local thrift stores.
Ayla said that she would like to thank two special teachers who helped her grow as a musician while at PHS. “I have been taking piano lessons once a week with Mr. Terry Edwards for a decade now,” she said. “He has become my mentor and holds a very special place in my heart. And Ms. Taylor Davis, the one who more or less forced me to try out for Chamber Choir, the audition-only choir at PHS. By a stroke of luck, I was accepted and fell head over heels for singing. Ms. Davis was so inspirational in my life that by age 15, I knew I wanted to become a choir director just like her. She gave me the right amount of empathy and tough love to make me work harder than ever. It paid off, because her teaching got me accepted into the vocal department at SEMO.”
Ayla is pictured receiving the Better Business Bureau Student of Ethics Torch Award.
Ayla is pictured at the PHS Band Senior Night celebration with her parents Wendy Schuler and Marion Layton.
Ayla performs at the Madrigal Dinner.
Ayla rehearses for the Vocal Solo and Ensemble Contest, accompanied by her choir director Ms. Taylor Davis.