Our Women’s History Month – and Every Month – (S)Hero: Ava Favara
It’s women’s history month and at LIHSA, we are eager to share the story of a woman who is like no other. She is a woman who had a vision from a very young age about why a school for the arts was critical to create on Long Island. She was LIHSA / BOCES Cultural Arts Center’s principal from the very beginning. She led the school for 40 years – from its inception until her retirement in June 2013, She nurtured thousands of students – giving them a pathway to turn their dreams into careers, encouraging them to follow their passions. She is inspiring, kind and led by example. Her name is Ava Favara.
Ava’s also a modest person. She rarely speaks about herself but delights in speaking about former LIHSA students. “I hear from a former student nearly every day,” she shared.
You’ll also see Ava’s face light up when speaking about her children, but most especially her grandchildren. There’s Jack who at 16 is is an internationally ranked tennis player. Jack has played on some of the world’s most prestigious tennis courts (the French Open, Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open, to name a few), but whose favorite place to go is Mimmie’s house in Florida. Her 13-year-old granddaughter Kayla is a dancer and actor, already having performed at the Engeman Theater! 10-year-old Brynn is a dancer and a basketball player. Chase is 10 as well and is an athlete, passionate about baseball and pitching. And the youngest, Gianna is 5 and is a dancer and gymnast. Ava has two adult granddaughters, Ashlie, a recent college graduate who is pursuing criminal justice and Lexie who will graduate from college this year and pursue a career in counseling,
There’s an expression that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Ava’s father – John McGuire – was the superintendent of Suffolk BOCES, conceiving Long Island’s first technical School, Wilson Tech. As he worked to open the school, Ava asked her father if there could be a school for kids like her; students who were interested in the arts. He said he would work on that after Wilson Tech was established. Sadly, his plan to create such a school was eclipsed with his untimely passing. Ava shared, “But I carried that dream with me through college and when I started working.”
Her dream found its pathway to reality when she worked as a young administrator for Nassau BOCES. When they opened in 1968, they surveyed districts about what services BOCES could offer that would support the districts and the arts were identified as a significant need. Suddenly, the dream Ava held close in high school found a pathway and Ava was all-in with passion and drive to make it come to a real life!
On opening day in September 1973, LIHSA opened with 13 students but by the end of the school year, just under 100 students were enrolled. Ava fostered a family-like atmosphere at the school. She shared, “Students were treated as young professional artists unlike anything they had experienced before and that environment coupled with the opportunity to work with extraordinary professional artists in each arts discipline created an atmosphere where everyone wanted to excel and be passionate about their art. The feeling was infectious!”
Ava always encouraged her students to always hold on to their dream. “If I didn’t have that dream, there wouldn’t have been a LIHSA.” She also created a nurturing environment, “When you become successful, it’s not just your success. It’s all the people who helped you get there. So, keep connected, network with your fellow students, help each other. And they do!” she remarks. And she continues to stay connected to hundreds of alumni, a testament to how many lives she touched.
Ava continues to support LIHSA and its current students. She’s frequently in the audience at as many student performances as possible. In Spring 2024, Ava was the honoree at the 50th anniversary Gala. And in June 2024, to cap off LIHSA’s special 50th anniversary school year, Ava was asked to deliver a speech at graduation. Here’s what this extraordinary and inspirational leader had to say to LIHSA’s Class of 2024, in her words:
LIHSA Graduation Speech. June 11, 2024
Congratulations to the Graduates of the LIHSA class of 2024!
Tonight is truly an honor being asked to be the speaker at LIHSA’s 50th Anniversary, our 50th Graduation! Just saying that, 50th Anniversary of LIHSA is awesome, and I’m filled with gratitude.
In my forty years as the principal of this wonderful school I always said ‘Passion lives here at LIHSA’. Martha Graham famously said “Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they’re great because of their passion.” This is true of all art forms and all artists passionately pursuing their dream.
I’m not a person who has ever spent any amount of time speaking about myself and as the founding Principal of LIHSA, originally the NB Cultural Arts Center, it has always been my belief that what we do here is not about us, it’s all about our students. Tonight however, I do want to share with you a little bit about myself in the hopes that it will inspire you as you take the next steps in your journey.
When I was a little younger than you are today, I dreamed of attending a high school that would focus on the arts here on Long Island similar to the famous High School for Performing Arts in Manhattan. At that time my father was the District Superintendent of Suffolk BOCES III who created Wilson Tech the first Career and Technical Education Center here on Long Island. Of course, I pleaded with him to do the same for students in the arts and he promised me that he would work on that after Wilson Tech opened. Unfortunately, that was not to be and he passed away before that could happen.
That however was a dream of mine that never went away. I carried it with me during my college years and into my professional career when I became a young administrator working at Nassau BOCES in curriculum development. In those days Nassau BOCES established in 1968 was the youngest BOCES in the state. In those early days the administration surveyed the districts asking them what they wanted their BOCES to do for them and much to my delight, almost all the districts wanted support in the arts and even mentioned wanting a high school for the arts!!!! My dream come true! So, many years later, I had the wonderful opportunity to begin planning for not only arts programs to enhance local districts with their own arts programs but to begin outlining plans for a high school of the arts here in Nassau County. And, that happened 50 years ago,
I share this with you today for a number of reasons.
First, you all have dreams. It was your dream that brought you here to LIHSA to focus on your arts education. It’s also your dream that will play a major role in your next step in your education at the college or conservatory you will be attending in the fall.
Don’t lose sight of that dream. Everything might not always go smoothly, but with the right attitude, setbacks are a positive! It gives you, the opportunity to process what’s happened, what the strengths and weaknesses are, to make adjustments and keep dreaming.
Be a good listener! After a setback, listen to your teachers, your coaches, your mentors. Stop talking and really listen to their advice. I always said, ‘I never learned anything from hearing myself talk!’
Second, Attitude is Everything! Your attitude will make you or break you.
Develop an Attitude of Gratitude. You didn’t get where you are today just by yourself. Thank those who have supported you and your pursuit of your dream…. your parents, your local school district who gave you the ‘scholarship’ to attend classes here. Everyone doesn’t have that opportunity. Thank the school board and let them know how much it’s meant to you and all you have accomplished. Your teachers, administrators and staff at LIHSA, all they have given you. They are and will continue to be your cheerleaders and you as alumni will forever be a member of the LIHSA family.
I am forever grateful to the NB Board of Education and the NB administrators who took a giant leap of faith in me, a young administrator, and always supported me and the dream of this wonderful high school of the arts.
Third, persistence! Success and achieving your dream will not always be easy or happen right away. You will meet people along the way who don’t necessarily believe in you or who don’t want to see you succeed for any number of reasons. Remember, nothing worth achieving comes without hard work and perseverance but NEVER give up on your dream, it’s yours and no one has the right to take that away from you so, don’t quit, It might come to you years later through an opportunity you never saw coming, Like mine!
Fourth, don’t forget who you are! Always lead with integrity, honesty and kindness. Appreciate people, say thank you, be gracious and always be true to yourself.
When you look at yourself in the mirror, like who you see. Remember, you must live with yourself!
Appreciate yourself! Think of all the lives you’ve touched by working on and sharing your dream.
As the years go by, Give Back! Come back to LIHSA and share what you’ve learned. Become active alumni and offer to give master classes, participate in alumni days and panel discussions, help recruit new students. Support each other and when you’re successful, bring along one or more of your colleagues and help them become successful. You are among thousands of LIHSA graduates who are successful practicing artists nationally and internationally who are always still working on their dream!
Tonight, I congratulate you, LIHSA’s graduating class of 2024! Our hopes and our dreams are with you, and we collectively are encouraged by all you will achieve. After all, the very fact that you are here in this 50th Anniversary class proves that ‘Dreams Really Do Come True.’
Keep scrolling to see photos from the 50th Anniversary Gala honoring Ava, Spring 2024.
