Middle School/Junior High Division Vice President
Kari Gilbertson has been the Director of Choirs at Forest Meadow JH for 13 years. Her choirs have consistently earned UIL Sweepstakes ratings and have also been named “Best in Class” at festivals and competitions. In 2002 Kari was named “Teacher of the Year” for the Richardson ISD and nominated for Disney “Teacher of the Year” in 2006. Most recently, she was the recipient of the first PTA “Teacher of Excellence” Award at her school. A product of Texas schools and choirs, Kari graduated from Amarillo HS. She then attended Concordia College in Moorhead MN where she was a four-year member of The Concordia Choir under the direction of René Clausen. Prior to returning to Texas, Kari led both middle school and high
Greg Haugen is in his 12th year of teaching and has taught his entire career at Nichols JH in Arlington. After graduating from Dallas Baptist UniverSpring 2011
school programs. In 1998, Ms Gilbertson completed her Master of Music degree with Honors at Southern Methodist University. In addition to being an instructional mentor teacher at her school, Kari is an active community and church musician. Professionally, she was a contributing author for the Glencoe textbook series, Experiencing Choral Music and the McGraw-Hill Elementary series, Spotlight on Music. Kari was recently named a “Lead Author” on Glencoe/McGraw Hill’s latest choral textbook. Ms Gilbertson is an active staff development presenter, adjudicator, clinician, and conductor throughout the country. She has presented her workshop on teaching strategies for the choral classroom at both TCDA and TMEA. Last summer she presented a workshop at TCDA entitled, “Changing Approaches for a Changing Choral World.” Kari is a member of TMEA, TCDA, ACDA, and TMAA. My rationale for the best practices in my own rehearsals is to tell my singers, “It’s a choir thing.” It is a standard and expectation that cannot be compromised because it is universal to the best choirs in the world. By that definition TCDA is, and will always be, “a choir thing!” and I am honored to be nominated to serve as TCDA MS/JH Vice-President.
If elected I would work hard to bring relevant and practical sessions that address the changing and challenging needs of our membership. Issues like: How do they do that? How can I use new technology and new teaching strategies to spice up my rehearsals? How do I effectively manage my time and resources and still have a life outside the choir room? How do I stay relevant to my school, and all of the instructional demands, and still build a successful choral program? I know that these are things that new and experienced teachers want to hear about as they begin planning for their year. The new music I find at reading sessions also sets the tone for my year. I believe that my experience with the elementary, middle school, and high school levels, in addition to my experience as a church musician, enables me to understand the needs of each division and will help in choosing relevant music for those sessions. I also believe that my organization, communication skills, and professional contacts would help me to ensure that our students who participate are profoundly influenced by their participation in the MS/JH Honor Choir. (I know in our area, there is a direct correlation between these singers and future All-State singers, and perhaps future choir directors!) It would be my pleasure to serve this great organization.
sity, Greg became the assistant choir director in 1999 and served as the assistant until 2001 when he became the head director. Under his direction Greg’s choirs are consistent sweepstakes winners and have been named “Best in Class” at area spring competitions. In 2007 the Nichols JH “Men of the Mustang Chorale” had the honor of performing at TMEA. Greg served as MS/JH Chair for Region V for 06-07 and 07-08, earning a new respect for the hard work completed by his region chair predecessors. Active as both a clinician and adjudicator, he is a member of TMEA, TCDA, and TMAA, and enjoys meeting and working with great directors around the state. He was given the honor being named a Minyard’s “First Class Teacher”
in 2005, an Honorary PTA Life Membership in 2007, and received the “Servant Leader in Education Award” from the College of Education at Dallas Baptist University in 2008. In addition to his work at Nichols JH, Mr Haugen is also the youth choir director at FUMC in Arlington and leads worship in the contemporary service. He has also re-discovered the importance of singing in a choir regularly and is a member of the Arlington Master Chorale. Even though Greg keeps a pretty full work/church schedule, he still finds time to mix in a little golf and is the short stop on the Nichols JH faculty softball team. He and his wife, Amy, live in Arlington with their three children, Continued on page 8
If elected . . .
TEXAS√SINGS!
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