BonnerSprings.com

He's only five years out of school, and Brian White is dealing with attention that he never expected at his age.

The Bonner Springs High School choir teacher is featured on the cover of Choral Director magazine this month for bringing a little "magic to room 210."

"I started five years ago with about 85 kids," said White, a 2002 graduate of Kansas State University. "Now, the program this past year, has 250 people, which is about 30 percent of the student body."

Not only has the program grown by leaps and bounds, but both the students and White have been bringing in top honors and showing that small-town Bonner Springs is "playing with the big boys," White said.

In addition to being featured on the cover of the magazine and in a six-page spread on the inside, White was recently named a finalist for Outstanding Young Choral Director for the state of Kansas.

"It's just kind of surreal," he said. "It is never really something I ever envisioned. It's a testament to the work the students and I have invested into what we do."

White was contacted by Choral Director magazine in early May. White said he never expected to be put on the cover but thought the idea of an article was great, considering the accolades the choir had been receiving. He never asked how the magazine heard about his choir, but said the magazine representatives wanted to pick his brain on how he turned around the choir program so quickly.

White's answer: Preach the importance of forming an extended family unit.

"Yes it is just a classroom, but for us to be successful, we have to be very close," he said.

He said the students shared success together and shared failures together and had become a close-knit group. On the last day of school, the seniors and White exchanged goodbye letters, and by the end, White said everyone in the room was in tears.

White's ideals for creating an extended family came from his own experience. He said he'd always been close with his mother and father, and they've always been supportive of his work, which has meant attending every Bonner Springs High School Choir concert for the past five years.

"I just treat my kids like my parents treated me," said White, who grew up in the surrounding area and graduated from Leavenworth High School. "That's not always easy to do consistently when you are managing 200 kids. But I learned a lot of life lessons from my parents, and I use those in the classroom."

White said he hoped the students would go on and use those life lessons in other aspects of their lives, but right now, he said everyone was enjoying their choir success. Part of those successes includes a four-year standing invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall, an invitation to perform in London in 2008, a national anthem performance for the NBA's Oklahoma City/New Orleans Hornets and another national anthem performance for the Kansas City Royals.

The biggest achievement, however, came when the choir was one of three Kansas choirs chosen to perform at the 2008 Kansas Music Educators Association All-State Music Convention. After submitting a recording from a live performance, White was informed that Bonner Springs was the No. 1 pick by a blind-judging panel to perform. This was a big deal, White said, because usually larger schools such as Shawnee Mission East or Lawrence Free State are chosen.

"We did a fantastic job," he said of the convention. "We got a standing ovation, which you never see at this type of convention."

White is hoping that the attention the choir has received will motivate more students to try choir. In addition to the hope that it will "grow like wildfire," White said he was looking forward to the challenge of outdoing himself in the future.

"I just look forward to keep building on the legacy we've established," he said. "I'll always welcome any kids in my classroom, no matter if they've sung before. I'm happy to bring a positive spotlight to the Bonner area and its kids."

Comments

1. 

   travelinman (anonymous) says…

   Congratulations to Mr White. From what I have heard he is what every teacher should be. Caring for every student as if that were his only concern. I's just a shame that the same thing can't be sadi for every teacher.

   Kudos to Mr White and may he stay around for many years to come.

   July 25, 2008 at 6:26 a.m.

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2. 

   musicteacher (anonymous) says…

   It's important to give teacher credit where due, and I'm sure Mr. White is doing his best as a teacher and perhaps even deserves a little blurb in this community's publication, but I'm disappointed that Bonnersprings.com chose to reprint/republish the information from the Choral Director magazine. It is rife with overstatement and flat out misinformation. If Choral Director magazine isn't going to fact check, it's still the responsibility of Bonnersprings.com to ensure that falsehoods are not published on their site.
   One problematic item is calling White a "finalist for Outstanding Young Choral Director for the state of Kansas," when the selection process for the above named honor does not involve a "finalist." One is simply nominated by peers and decided upon by a committee. You either receive the award or do not. Furthermore, the paragraph referring to Bonner Spring's performance at Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop is full of misleading statements. First of all, there were more than three choirs chosen. Choirs selected for the 2008 convention were Bonner Springs, Hays High, Frontier Trail JrH, West JrH, and Washburn Rural HS. The article also says, "usually larger schools such as Shawnee Mission East or Lawrence Free State are chosen." This statement is deceptive for several reasons beginning with the impression it gives that Bonner Springs was chosen over SME or FSHS when, in fact, neither of these schools submitted tapes for entry. Your school cannot be considered for performance unless you submit a recording. It is also important for the reader to understand that each entry is categorized by school size and every effort is made by the board to have representation from each. Therefore, a choir from Bonner Springs would never be "competing" for a performance against larger schools such as those named above. Finally, the Bonner Springs choir did not get a standing ovation. I won't digress into the subjective to repeat the concerns about the performance expressed by attendees, but suffice it to say that as an audience member, I've witnessed many standing ovations at KMEA, but there simply was not one for Bonner Springs.
   Expressed here are just a few passages I found problematic in the article and the list is certainly not all-inclusive. I find that education, especially music education, for being such a vital and integral part of building a strong future for our country is often overlooked, underappreciated, and under funded and I appreciate any effort to remediate this problem. However, in order to maintain the integrity and accountability of public education, it's vital that evaluation and recognition of teachers and schools be deserved and honest. I have no doubts that Mr. White is doing noteworthy things in his classroom, and had those items been truthfully reported the credibility of Mr. White, Bonnersprings.com, and education as a whole would be much better served and maintained.

   August 6, 2008 at 9:45 p.m.

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