It was nearly 18 years ago that I left a job that went so badly that I had decided to resign after only a year of what I considered my ineptitude deciding I would do ANYTHING but teaching.  I obviously had no clue as to what I was doing, the students were rude and unwilling to try something new with their new teacher, the administration was unkind and inflexible.  I sucked it up the best I could throughout the year but it was miserable, so miserable that for the last two weeks, my husband sat in my classroom to make sure I wasn’t being bullied.  

The relief I felt after that last day of school was quickly replaced with “oh shoot, I need a job”.  We can’t survive on a new college band director salary!  Luckily, the school of music was hiring a receptionist type person and I jumped at the chance.  It was easy, I was still with musicians (albeit sometimes needy musicians) I had a desk to myself and it was no stress.  It was probably half of what I made as a teacher, but I obviously wasn’t a very good one, so I was doing what I could.  It was the first summer I had worked in many years and it felt weird, even more weird when August hit and I didn’t fix up a room for school.  

Soon after I was called into the office of the associate director of music.  After my experiences with administration, I was a bit nervous to go.  What had I done wrong?  Was I going to lose my job?  I sat at his little round table, waiting to hear what he had to say.  And what he asked changed the trajectory of my life and career.  He asked if I would be interested in an appointed position on the Nebraska Music Education Association Board.  Could I be a board member and not be a teacher?  Yes, as long as I was a member of MENC that was fine. After a little time to think it over, I became the new Public Relations/Advocacy Chair.

I had no idea what I was getting into, but for the next six years, after a few slip ups here and there, I gradually grew into the job and the job became mine.  Soon after accepting the appointed position, I got a call about an elementary general music position and interviewed.  After my last fiasco, I have to say I was a little nervous about taking the position when it was offered, so I went back to that same associate director and asked what he thought.  He said I needed to teach, so I did.  This year concludes my 31^st year of teaching thanks to Dr. Nierman.

Towards the end of year six on the board, I was approached by my friend who happened to be one of the presidents of NMEA.  He asked me if I would be interested in running for a position on the board.  By that point, I was happy in my teaching career (I was a pretty good teacher after all!), and I loved the people I served with on the board.  I’m thinking, probably General Music Chair, but no, he asks, would you be interested in running for president.  Me?  President?  Again, I took some time to think about it and said yes.  After running unopposed (people must be afraid of little general music teachers), I became the third woman elected to the presidency of NMEA.  

There were wonderful times and there were tremendously sad and challenging times.  There were changes that some people loved and some people hated.  I learned all about Robert’s Rules thanks to my friend who created a “cheat sheet” for me to run meetings which worked great except for that one time Dr. Nierman asked for something that wasn’t on that sheet….  I learned many other things too from great leadership, I got to travel and meet amazing people  in my division so as I was approaching my 11^th year on the NMEA board, I made the decision to run for North Central President.  I waited for that phone call to let me know if I had won or not and to my disappointment, I did not win.  Again, Dr. Nierman said, you know, it took me two times to win the election, you should try again.  So I did.  And the second time, I got the phone call that said I won.  To make it even better, Dr. Nierman made the call.

The last six years have flown by and next week is my last board meeting with the National Executive Board.  I have taught and traveled, served as a liaison and chair of a committee, I feel like I’ve learned more than I ever contributed and have meet the nicest, most incredible, hardworking, passionate people I’ve ever known from all over the country.  Just like NMEA, the NEB has survived tough times, including a pandemic of all things, but I feel like the ship that is NAfME is beginning to move in the right direction.  Again, there have been changes, some that people have loved and some that people have hated, but nothing grows without change.  So after 18 years of consecutive years of service, it is my turn to step off the board and allow others to experience service and joy.

So what have I learned?  Service continues.  Once you see that things need to be done, you need to keep doing to the best of your ability.  I’ve learned that if you don’t keep learning and changing, you stagnate, and while what is known can be comforting, it can also leave people out.  I’ve learned to listen intently before I speak and go with my gut which usually lets me know when I have to say something.  I’ve learned to ask questions of those people who know more than I know and have stepped out of my comfort zone more times than I can tell you.  My life has been completely changed over the last almost 20 years because someone took the time to tell me that they thought I could do something important and asked if I would do it.  As leaders, I’m not sure we do that enough.  

Someone asked fairly recently if I was retiring.  Nope, not yet, as there are other opportunities on the horizon.  There’s just so much more to do and learn and again, thanks to the encouragement of others, I’m ready to step out of my comfort zone again.  My hope is, if someone asks you to serve, you will think about it and say yes.