Each month, iParenting.com spotlights a teen who inspires and moves us, who embodies the qualities that we all admire in a person, a friend, and a son or a daughter. Above all, the Teen of the Month is dedicated to making a positive mark on the planet. Rich or poor, famous or not, the Teen of the Month shines as an example of what today's teens have to offer.

May's Teen of the Month is 17-year-old Hillary Adams, a pianist who recently raised $1,500 for the Shriners Hospital for Children in Houston as a way of using her talent to show thanks for the hospital's help when she was a newborn.

If not for Shriners Hospital for Children, Hillary Adams of Rockport, Texas, may not have the full use of her hands. Instead, she's become an amazing pianist and an innovative composer for the most modern of musical genres, video games.

Shortly after Hillary was born, doctors noticed that her hands were balled up even more than what is usually seen in newborns. She was diagnosed with a mild form of cerebral palsy. To help stretch her hand muscles and prevent deformity, Shriners Hospital fit Hillary with hand splints, a common practice for this type of hand contraction associated with cerebral palsy. She also went through a short period of occupational therapy.

It was Mom, though, who knew best (as usual!). In an effort to coax Hillary into using her hands as much as possible, her mother, Hallie Adams, bought her toys that required a certain amount of finger dexterity to use. One of them was a tiny piano. "The original point of the piano was definitely for therapeutic reasons," says Hillary. "My parents weren't thinking about influencing me toward playing the piano."

Deliberate influence or not, it soon became clear that Hillary had an ear for music. By age 2, she was picking out simple tunes such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on her tiny piano. Still, her mom didn't realize that this talent was so unusual until Hillary was in preschool. The school had a little choir and, struck by her ability to carry a tune, the teachers took Hallie aside and suggested she think about enriching Hillary's musical abilities. Shortly thereafter, Hallie signed Hillary up for piano lessons.

Dedicated to Music
Most young children start out taking piano lessons with whatever teacher happens to be available, and then if they show talent, move to a teacher that can take them to another level. Hillary was lucky, because she started with one of the best, Nina Drath, an internationally acclaimed pianist and teacher. Drath began encouraging Hillary to enter music festivals very early on so she would become accustomed to performing on stage before an audience. "Within just a couple of years, I was competing in an international competition that is held every two years in Corpus Christi," says Hillary. "Each of the six times I entered, I placed high enough to move on to play at Carnegie Hall. This year I hope to place first with high honors."

To keep her piano skills sharp, Hillary practices at least an hour a day. When she is getting ready for a competition or performance, she practices three hours a day. In addition, she has a job at a local church where she's worked as a pianist since she was 13.

Although Hillary loves competing, it was her experience in a talent show in the eighth grade that made her realize that she loves the acclaim of an audience as well. "I had done a medley of Nintendo songs, and everyone loved it," says Hillary. "I just kept getting compliments about it and realized that I wanted to stage my own concert."

Hillary was also interested in finding a good cause to raise money for, and the two ideas just seemed to fit perfectly together. Because she had been helped by Shriners Hospital, she decided that was where the proceeds would go. The performance was a big success; approximately 500 people attended, and Hillary raised more than $1,500. Best of all were the kudos she got from her friends and peers.

"All my friends showed up for the concert, which I didn't expect because you just don't expect teens to appreciate classical music," says Hillary. "But they really enjoyed themselves and were very impressed by how it went."

A Modern Genre
Hillary may be classically trained, but her preferred musical genre is one that's as modern as, well: video games. While adults may just think of these tunes as catchy background "noise," video game music is as legitimate a musical style as any modern composition. Some of the composers that Hillary admires in particular are Nobuo Uematsu and Danny Elfman.

What precipitated Hillary's interest in the music of video games were the games themselves. She got her first video game system when she was 2 and now says she has virtually every system. Most of them she's paid for herself with proceeds from her job and from working at weddings and other ceremonial occasions. Her room is also decorated with video-game-related posters, and she and a few friends are currently developing a role playing game. She realizes that the world of composing for video games is very difficult to break into, but she's hoping that some of the work she's already done, including some Pokémon remixes, will help her get a start in the field.

In spite of her fascination for video games, Hillary's parents, like most parents, always did limit the amount of time she was allowed to play. That helped her to remain focused on her piano and on her studies. Although she has been primarily home-schooled, she did attend public school for several years and is currently at a high school junior level in her studies while dual enrolled at Texas A&M University. As for the future, she would like to attend a university with a strong musical program and hopes to be the one composing the next generation of catchy video tunes.

Want to see more?

• February 2005's Teen of the Month, Thomas Rancour
• January 2005's Teen of the Month, Jerry Guo
• August 2004's Teen of the Month, Linzy Hildreth
• Talk about it!