early childhood education Serendipity Rick Townsend, WMEA State Chair, Early Childhood Education
Reaching That Next Level Doesn’t it some- times seem that we spend a lifetime reaching the elusive next level? When we were toddlers, we could hardly wait to start school. When
we were on JVs, we could hardly wait for Varsity. High school to college, single to married, college to having a real job – and now, from our current teaching position to end-game positions held by our mentors and other professional colleagues – the brass ring is always there to see.
As I look back on my most important ca- reer moves, perhaps the biggest surprise has been to see just how unpredictable the pathway has been. Although my current job description is well within the scope of what I might have hoped and planned for as an undergraduate, I never could have predicted my most important life-changing events. Here is a sampling…
Sitting There Minding My Own Business… As a college senior, I was contemplating writing my resume when a superintendent visited my small-college campus. He had just visited two large universities, inter- viewing a large cast of potential teachers including band directors, but he was an alum of my college so he stopped by to see what his alma mater offered. I was
Practical Pointers
among three who he eventually invited to talk with his administrators.
Long story short… I got the job. I never sent a single resume. I signed my contract during the first week of April, my senior year of college.
You Ought to at Least Talk to This Guy During my second year as a public school band director, my superintendent sent a visitor to my office, suggesting that I give him consideration. He was a camp director from Canada, and wanted to offer his camp for our use during an off week in August. Band camps were not yet in vogue, but my superintendent was sup- portive and my students were excited by the possibility. Consequently, I took my entire marching band to camp in Canada for the duration of my time at that school, a tradition that began 25 years of camp directing for me.
A School Service Director’s Hunch For band directors, a good school service department is a life support system. I eventually left the public school and spent three years as a circuit-riding band director to private schools. I traveled in excess of a thousand miles a week in that endeavor.
During one of my visits to a music store, the school service director called me aside with news that there was a man who I should meet – a gifted public school band
“…we seldom pause to imagine when our next event of
serendipity; whether
perceived as coincidence, destiny, providence or merely good luck; might arrive.”
director who had left a highly successful teaching career to publish music for the very constituency I was serving on my circuit.
A meeting was set up, and I met the gentle- man who would become my closest friend and professional associate to this day.
Catching a Speaker’s Eye
A special speaker came to the tiny rural private school where I eventually settled (after wearing out a car and the seats of many pairs of slacks as a circuit rider). He happened to see me DJ-ing at a church’s radio station. We really did not talk during his visit, but something caught his eye. Three months later, he called my admin- istrator, asking for permission to talk with me about a position at a large, suburban school in the Washington D.C. area.
~ Rick Townsend
We have a nice family tradition. Each New Years Day, we take some time to stop and recall the names of those who we met for the first time during the past year, but who are already uniquely important in our lives.
This helps us to look forward with a special anticipation to the year ahead, and we are never disappointed.
40 April 2011
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