(ABC 6 News) — Teachers help create the stepping stones that kids use as they go through life.

Inside an Owatonna Middle School orchestra class, Jessica Bellefeuille works to combine fun and learning.

“My goal was to make kids want to be in music again. It’s not something that they do after they’re done with soccer and science and math. It’s something that they do alongside those activities,” Mrs. Bellefeuille said.

To Mrs. Bellefeuille, teaching music is more than getting students through the class. It is about meeting them where they are at and embracing the path down the learning process.

“I don’t remember who taught me how to play a G major scale in fifth grade and sixth and seventh grade, but I do remember how they made me feel,” Mrs. Bellefeuille said. “And I think that it’s important to embrace everybody where they’re at, meet them, and try and get them from Point A to Point B. And hopefully we all do that together.”

And Mrs. Bellefeuille’s teaching is something that will stick with her students for a lifetime.

“She’s really important to me because she’s somebody I remember. She’s somebody I will remember,” said sixth grader Liliannah Gollaher. “I won’t remember one of my other teachers, but she just makes such a strong connection with her kids, and it’s really special.”