New horizons for new teacher
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
RUSSELL -- It might have been tempting to ease into his first job fresh out of college, knowing that he had the support of people who knew him growing up.
Not Alex Underwood.
Instead, the Russell native brought the same kind of energy to his profession that he displayed as a student at Ruppenthal Middle School and Russell High School.
That passion for instilling in students expression through music has not gone unnoticed.
The 23-year-old Underwood, vocal music teacher for Russell's high school and middle school students, has been chosen as one of 31 Horizon Award winners from the 2008-09 school year.
The Kansas Department of Education has given out the Horizon Award since 2003 to recognize "exemplary first-year educators."
The Horizon Award program is a regional competition with four regions corresponding to the state's U.S. Congressional districts. Underwood is one of eight honorees in Region 1.
Returns to hometown
Underwood came back to Russell after graduating from Sterling College with degrees in music education and voice performance in 2008.
He had a goal of re-energizing the program from which he had learned so much during his teenage years.
Last year, 21 of his 22 members of the select choir, the Russell Madrigals, advanced to the district level of competition.
This year, 15 of 18 Madrigals earned the same honor.
Underwood said he first became interested in music when he was young and was fascinated by his grandmother's organ.
He began taking piano lessons in second grade, and by the time he was in middle school he was involved in both band and choir, and he excelled in both.
"Going to state honor choir (in high school) is what made me really want to teach music," Underwood said. "I thought, 'This is what I'm supposed to do.' I love this."
After four years of practicing for and performing in recitals and ensembles and musicals at Sterling, Underwood did his student teaching at Goddard High School, where he got the opportunity to learn from Diane Lewis, Goddard's choir director and a former instructor at Sterling College.
"I had a great experience there and learned a lot," Underwood said of his semester at Goddard.
"The education program at Sterling prepared me so well," he said, "and then getting out into a large (Class) 6A school like Goddard, under someone like Diane Lewis, what a great learning experience."
Employed before graduating
Underwood had been offered -- and he accepted -- the job at Russell, which was opening the fall of 2008, even before he started his student teaching.
He said he thinks that took some of the pressure off him, "not having to deal with the stress of not having a job yet," and let him get as much out of the student teaching experience as possible.
"He has an incredible innate sensitivity to music," Lewis said of Underwood, who plays percussion and baritone as well as the piano but says that voice is his focus. "It's an internal part of who he is."
"All I did was teach him the discipline and how to train students," Lewis added.
The student teacher learned well and soon applied that training to his new job.
"I have a vision of a real quality program, and the band teacher and I see eye to eye on pushing the kids and expecting the best all the time," he said. "We work them, work them, work them, and that seems to be working really well. Once they start performing and get positive feedback from people, they're hooked."
The students have bought into his philosophy.
"I've had other teachers, and I like (Underwood) a lot," said junior Kira Kreutzer, in her third year of participating in the Russell Madrigals. "He actually teaches us different ways to sing and isn't just directing us."
A disciplined approach
Underwood adheres to his disciplined principles and has a motto posted in the music room, "Perfect Practice Produces Perfect Performances."
"Don't fall into bad habits," he told his Madrigals group at practice Friday afternoon. "Practice it correctly."
That theory indeed is producing positive results at Russell, as evidenced by all the district and state honors garnered by his students the past year and a half.
That, coupled with the renewed enthusiasm about music in Russell schools, prompted Superintendent David Couch to nominate Underwood for the Horizon Award.
"We have had to make some reductions (in staff) the past few years, and our music department was struggling," Couch said. "Alex has just come in and done everything we've asked him to do."
"It's nice to have one of our young people come back in the district," Couch added. "He's a very fine young man and very deserving of this award."
"I was surprised they even nominated me, and humbled," Underwood said.
It's a continual learning experience for Underwood as well.
Constantly learning
Accustomed to working with high school students, middle school was a new learning curve for Underwood.
"I was a little frustrated at first, but I revamped the program and made some changes, trying to make things better," he said of the middle school program. "Now, I am really enjoying (that level), too. It's like my own feeder school."
Underwood said he wasn't really concerned about any negative feedback about returning to his roots. Instead, it's been all positive.
"That has been a bit of a comfort zone," Underwood said. "I had good rapport with the faculty when I was a student here, and there are a lot of the same teachers here. Plus, I know who to ask if I need something."
The feeling must be mutual for faculty and administration, as evidenced by the Horizon Award nomination.
"It is nice to be recognized for your work," he admitted.
Although, Underwood said, getting to pass on his passion for music every day to youngsters doesn't really seem like work.
"I love my job," he said. "I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Winners of the 2010 Horizon Awards will be recognized at the Kansas Exemplary Educator Network Conference on Feb. 26 in Topeka.
That happens to be the same weekend as the Kansas Music Educators Association State Festival in Wichita, for which several of Underwood's students have qualified.
"I am really honored and don't want to sound disrespectful," he said. "But I just won't be able to make the (awards ceremony). I've got to be with my students."