Music has affected my life greatly over these last four years. When I first came into my freshman year I was ready to quit band. I had to do online learning the year before due to covid, and it’s impossible to try to play with a band over zoom. So I had given up. I wasn’t gonna join band my freshman year but my friend Megan convinced me to at least try it. And I will be forever grateful to her because band is my favorite! I have made so many friends here and I have learned so much. When I started freshman year I could barely read my music, and now I’m the first chair tuba in our top band. Music is not just fun, it helps you feel emotions and convey those emotions to other people. I have always been a quieter person, always listen more than I talk. I tend to keep my emotions to myself. But when I feel very strong emotions they come out when I play. If I’m happy I’m dancing around as I play, and if I’m mad it gets very aggressive. At the beginning of my junior year my parents got divorced. It was such a shock to the system, we didn’t see it coming. They never fought, they were always nice to each other so when they told my sister and I, I just felt kind of numb. I was in shock. My parents asked me if I was ok, what I was feeling, but I couldn’t tell them because I didn’t know. The next day I was in the band room practicing my solo before school started. It was a moderately slower song, that started in a minor key and moved to a major. It just felt sad. When I was playing it just felt like I could breath. I could feel my emotions, but my brain couldn’t think about them because I was so focused on the music. I didn’t even notice that I had started crying until my band teacher came over and asked me if I was ok. I broke down crying. Music helped me be able to get over the initial shock and accept my emotions. And now life could never be better. I joined jazz band because I felt left out. I learned an entire new instrument just because of my fear of missing out. I was in marching band all four years and was section leader my sophomore and junior year. This year I was the low brass section leader. It was the biggest low brass group we’ve had in 20 years, and it was the most fun I’ve ever had. I did go out for drum major 2 years in a row, but because I was one of two sousaphones I didn’t get it. But I’m ok with that. My sophomore year I got to be in the pit for Frozen the Musical. It was so hard because I again had to learn a slightly different instrument, but it was so worth it. For a little while I joined theater, but it just didn’t bring me the joy that band does. For some people it may be a hobby, but for me it is a passion. It is part of me and it always will be. And I can’t wait to continue in college.

The thought of changing kids lives with my work is what makes me passionate about education. I have had many great teachers who have helped me become the person I am today. But the teacher who has inspired me to go on the path to becoming a teacher is my high school band teacher Mr. Belsaas. If you know me personally you would know that I am a band nerd through and through. Anything and everything band related I wanna be part of it. But it was never like this before. I actually despised band in middle school. It got worse during covid. I was alone. It absolutely sucked. By the time I got to freshman year I was ready to quit. But my friend convinced me to stay to experience high school band and marching band. And I will forever be grateful to her because it was so much fun I could never imagine quitting. Mr. Belsaas is the greatest teacher I have ever had. He showed us all how fun band can be. He helped me go from hating band to being the best tuba player in the entire school. Not only is he amazing at teaching, but he connects with all of us on a personal level. I can walk in his office at any time and just start venting about my friends or ask for help with math. At the beginning of my junior year my parents told my sister and I that they were getting divorced. It felt like it came out of nowhere. But Mr. Belsaas was there for me. He let me sit in his office and just cry. Away from the prying gossiping teens. He helped me realize that this was a good thing. He is there to just ask how I am doing. And that’s what I want to be for my future students. I want to be the trusted adult they can always come to no matter what. I want to encourage them to follow their dreams and succeed even when everyone else tells them they will fail. I want to show them how fun band can be just like Mr. Belsaas has done for me. This is why I am passionate about education. I can change the lives of so many kids and help to change the world. One kid at a time. A better future for all. My passion about education.

It is very important for me to receive this scholarship because I am paying for college by myself. My parents can’t help me because they are struggling on there own. It’s also important because I’m going to be a teacher, I won’t be able to pay off student loans quickly. I am going to be a first generation college student. My parents and my grandparents never went to college, they barely got through high school. They are all so proud of me for making it this far with a GPA of 3.97. I have been excepted to Northern State University, South Dakota. I am going for a degree in music education. I have wanted to be a band teacher since I started band in fifth grade. This scholarship would help make that dream happen, so I can focus on my studies and not on the stress of money. My mom is my biggest supporter in life. She was the one who told me I could quit basketball because I hated it, she told me to join band when I was on the fence. She and my dad got divorced the beginning of my junior year. Every day I have to watch as she stresses about how we’re gonna pay the house bill, or what we’re going to eat. I always feel so bad for her. I feel helpless. My dad is my second biggest supporter. He works out of town a lot but tries to be there for me and my sister. He moved to an apartment complex when they got divorced. I know he’s struggling with money, but he hides it from us. He doesn’t want us to worry about him. My grandparents, my dads parents, want to help with money but they are both retired and are paying for great grandmas nursing home. My other grandparents, my moms dad and step mom, are very well off money wise but they refuse to help with anything ever. We actually haven’t spoken for about two years. This is why this scholarship is very important to me. I will be so excited and relieved if I receive it. Everything helps when your struggling. To receive this scholarship would not only be a little less wait on my shoulders, but it would make life a little less stressful for my family, so they don’t have to worry about me, and can just focus on themselves.

I have always loved music. It’s a way to convey emotions, or stay focused, or make friends. Music has been a part of my entire life. And ever since the first grade when I learned what the tuba was I knew that that was what I would be playing. It was definitely rough at first, being a shy kid playing a big instrument. Kids would laugh at me when I’d have to drag it down the hall, but it was all worth it. I made real true friends who believed in me and supported me as I did for them. We made sure we all practiced and had fun! Then Covid hit. Those were some dark times. I had to do a year and a half of online learning. So while all of my classmates got to endure 8th grade together, I sat alone by myself in my bedroom. I didn’t have a phone so the only contact I got with my friends was the end of band class before my teacher stored the zoom. Sometimes they would say hello. But I usually got nothing. I would try to play with them but it’s hard when the zoom connection never works quite right. They couldn’t even hear me anyways. I just stopped trying. I wasn’t going to join band freshman year, I had given up, but my friend convinced me that I had to do that I could be in marching band. I tried to fight it but she said if I joined in a later year I would regret my decision. And I am so unbelievably grateful to her for making me do it, because here I am in my senior year, with four years of band, four years of marching band, two years of jazz band, and was in the pit for our production of Frozen the musical. I am so unbelievable happy to be part of the band department. My band directors have helped me so much not only growing as a musician, but also as a person. That’s why I want to become a band director, so that I can give that back to students just like my directors. As of currently I have given back to my community in many ways. Over the summer I would go into a daycare with various different instruments and let the kids fiddle around with them, while also showing them how to treat the instruments with kindness. For the last two years I have volunteered at my schools instrument day, which is an entire day of free lessons with instrument specific instructors for 5th-12th graders in the area. We also hold an instrument petting zoo where 4th graders who are interested in band can test out the instruments and see what clicks. Outside of the music world I am a part of the National Honor Society and volunteer for things like the women in science day, to help encourage kids to learn and continue towards a career they’ll love. With all of these tools and experience I know that I am ready to move on to teaching. I’m excited too pass on all of these gifts, and hopefully, I can help at least one kid out of the dark hole they’re in.

My name is Hannah Jensen and I am a senior in high school. After high school I want to go into musical education because my band teachers helped me so much and I want to do the same for other kids. My junior year my parents got divorced and I lost a lot of friends but my band teachers were always there to listen and just let me vent and were always ready to give me a hug. I want to be the safe trusted adult for my students. Music has impacted my life ever since 5th grade. When Covid happened I had to do online learning my entire 8th grade year. I would have probably gone insane if not for my middle school band teacher using zoom so I could be part of band class. I am very passionate about band because it has changed my life and has given me lots of opportunities including being in the pit for my schools performances of Disney Broadways Frozen in my sophomore year, playing with the Dallas brass in my freshman year, and being part of our city Ranger band which does parades during the summer. I have lettered every single year in band. I also joined jazz band so that I could get a head start learning music theory. If I could do one thing for my community I would make it way easier to not only get access to instruments but also free lessons to encourage people to express themselves through music. This would not only give people a way to express their emotions but it would improve their listening skills and their team work. I would make a big building where kids could come to be around good people and learn these instruments instead of being out on the street or something like that. All of the arts, not just music, are important to have available for everyone because you learn how to express yourself. You learn the things you like to do and the things you don’t like. And you might just find your all time favorite hobby, or even a side hustle. If you can make money off of something you love that is great! That’s why I want to go into music education because I’ll get to make money doing something I know I already love. I’ve loved it for 8 years now and will love it till the end of my life.

What makes me passionate about education? Well there are so many answers. I want to be able to teach kids things that they are interested in. I want to be there as a person they can trust to talk to about whatever whenever. I want to be able to watch them grow and become better people. But, I think above all I want to inspire kids to achieve their goals for life. I always thought I would become a teacher but I never knew what I would teach. But then the pandemic hit and I stopped thinking about the future. It felt like the world went on hold. I had to do online learning and I hated it. My first year back at school was my freshman year of high school. My social anxiety was terrible because I had spent the last year and a half at home. But my band teacher, Mr. Belsaas, was there and he helped me. I had my first panic attack in his office and he was just super calm and supportive. I loved band before the pandemic but there’s only so much you can do by yourself. I got really bored and decided it just wasn’t for me. So I was planning on quitting band after my freshman year. But Mr. Belsaas made it fun again. He didn’t yell at us for making mistakes, he would just explain how to fix it. He makes jokes all the time but also talks to us like we are at the same level. And we got to have a little say in what we played. My previous music teachers would just give us music and tell us to play it, but Mr. Belsaas would pick a couple songs and have us play them. He’d ask us what we liked and didn’t like and we’d have a discussion as a class. He genuinely would want to know our opinions. This year my parents got divorced. It felt like it came out of nowhere. I was on an emotional roller coaster. But Mr. Belsaas has been my rock. He talks to me when I look stressed and just asks me how I feel about what’s happening. He listens to me even if I just need to get it all out in a rant. That’s why I’m so passionate about education. Because I want to be there to help, to listen, to talk to. I want to be somebody’s Mr. Belsaas.