Mid-Prairie Alumni Awards Fine Arts Award Collette Conway McClellen

Class of 1997

From a young age, the Fine Arts have been a big part of life for Collette Conway McClellen ‘97. Growing up, she was a member of her church choir, remembers singing at home with her mother playing the piano, participated in the STP Music program, was active in both band and choir programs and participated in all of the fine arts activities she could through high school. As she continues her music teaching career at Mid-Prairie High School, McClellen has built quite a resume of awards and experiences. She is this year’s alumni fine arts award recipient.

As a high school student, McClellen also participated in other groups outside of Mid-Prairie. She was a member of the Nite Express Drum and Bugle Corps and the Iowa State Fair Singers and Jazz Band. Performing with these two groups taught her responsibility, independence and perseverance. She also studied abroad in London while in college, experiencing a variety of cultures with her opportunity to visit other countries with a train ride. These early opportunities helped prepare her for her future professional journey.

McClellen has many career highlights to be proud of. She was the Iowa Choral Directors Association representative chair for the Southeast District for five years. In the 2022-23 school year, she was nominated and selected as the Southeast District award recipient for the Inaugural Honors Initiative through Iowa Choral Directors Association. In 2019, she was asked to be the OPUS Director for the 7th/8th Grade Treble Chorus. McClellen continues to perform and currently participates in the Vocal Artists of Iowa, of which she was a founding member. Being able to sing and perform is extremely important to her. She believes it makes her a better director, as she gets to remember what it’s like to be in an ensemble.

At Mid-Prairie, McClellen loves to challenge herself and her students to make improvements in some way every year. Even though she is in her 21st year of teaching, she continues to make notes to herself after each event of possible improvements she could make. She tries to foster these same lifelong learning skills for her own students. May is a special month in the school year for her, as it brings Senior Recitals. To McClellen, it is such a joy to watch students put together all of their music and learning from their four years of high school into a cumulative event.

During her time as a Mid-Prairie student, McClellen found inspiration in her music teachers. Dr. Louise Frakes taught at MP for 30 years, and McClellen remembers her evident passion for music and high expectations for her students. Dr. Frakes had a firm belief that every child has the innate ability to sing, and a teacher’s job is to help bring out that ability. McClellen also enjoyed time with Becky Curtis during her junior high band years and remembers Curtis’ encouraging, upbeat attitude and belief in the power of positivity. In high school, McClellen enjoyed Jazz Band, Rock 101, Marching Band and Pep Band with Craig McClenahan.

When identifying her motivation to strive for excellence, McClellen immediately points to her students. She loves to see them excited for an upcoming performance, working hard while practicing for a contest and sharing their ideas about how to improve. While she strives for her best on a daily basis, her success has taken a lot of hard work and dedicated time. McClellen believes the key to success is communication, and remembers a bit of wisdom from her father, “Consistency is key.” She strives regularly to incorporate these beliefs into her daily work.

Great mentors to McClellen growing up are her parents, John and Cathy Conway. They always were, and still are, her biggest cheerleaders. Their work ethic, moral compass and love of life are qualities she aspires to emulate. A quote she heard often from her father while growing up was, “You get what you expect.” That wisdom has influenced her teaching throughout the years. She expects her students to work hard, make meaningful contributions, be helpful and learn, which leads to her students striving for their best while learning to expect the same from each other as well.

McClellen wants to thank the amazing Mid-Prairie community for their extra support over the past year, as being diagnosed with breast cancer in May of 2022 wasn’t how she wanted to end the school year. Since then, she has gone through six rounds of chemotherapy, a major surgery with another yet to come and 28 sessions of radiation. The students have all been very flexible and understanding, and she thanks her students and community members from the bottom of her heart for their support.