Teaching music strikes a chord with Iola native

Good teachers are touched with an optimism that says each successive generation can be as good or better than the one that came before.
By this standard Ben Olson will probably make a great teacher. In effect, he already is one. Olson, an Ottawa University senior, recently completed his final semester working as a student-teacher at Iola High School and Middle School under the direction of band director Matt Kleopfer (hereafter Mr. K).
Olson speaks about the band students with a generosity unusual for someone who is not so very many years their senior.
He recalled a trip to a recent festival in northeastern Kansas: “When the middle school started playing, you could see jaws drop and heads turn — the people there couldn’t believe the sound that came out. For both the middle school and high school, you could tell they’d put the time in, and the practice, and that this is what they like to do. They like to play, and they like to play well.
“I think that Iola is starting to get the recognition from other towns nearby for having a program in place that strives to get better all the time. Mr. K is really big on that. He tells his students every day: ‘Let’s get better today. Even 1 percent  better is still better.’ And they work incredibly hard, all of them.”
But then so did Olson when he was in their place. A 2007 graduate of IHS, Olson traces the birth of his interest in musical education to the winter of his junior year. Iola’s band director at that time, Mike Miller, was forced into a leave of absence by a medical emergency three weeks before the Christmas concert. A replacement was found, but by then preparations were long underway. Olson, a trombonist, section leader, and drum major, was asked — along with a fellow drum major, Kelli Shay — to help direct the pep band. “That’s where I really got my foot in the door, and where I really said ‘I can do this. I would love to spend every day in front of a classroom, making music.’”
 After high school Olson attended Allen Community College, where he met his wife, Nachele. “She was singing in the choir. I was playing in the band.”
From there the two moved to Ottawa, where Olson attended OU on a scholarship to play the trombone in the concert, pep and jazz bands. It was at Ottawa that Olson began to log the hard work required of his chosen degree, which involved, beyond normal schoolwork, the many responsibilities of performance and the long hours of daily trombone practice. “It’s a whole different work ethic; people who go into music education are insane. I don’t know if people going into the program know how much work it is. But,” Olson emphasizes, “the people who come out the other side are prepared for life. For me, it’s been a great experience.”
According to Olson, the pulverizing schedule was necessary preparation for the student-teaching role he assumed in Iola. “I’m there (at Iola schools) all day; the first to arrive, the last to leave. Every day, you just keep going. Mr. K describes it as the trenches; you just dig in. That’s where you work the hardest.
“This is a full-time job,” Olson says — then laughs, remembering one crucial aspect of his role as a student-teacher — “only without the benefit of pay.”
Olson will conclude his final exams and licensing requirements in the coming weeks and then begin his hunt for a full-time teaching job. He would like to remain close to Iola, if possible. Nachele, who graduated with a degree in English at OU, and has plans to pursue a master’s degree in Library Science, has a good, on-track job working for the Southeast Kansas Library System, via the Iola Public Library.
In the meantime, Olson — who has already fulfilled his semester’s requirement — continues to aid Mr. K and the band, devoting special attention in recent days to the high school’s upcoming participation in the nationally televised Alamo Bowl.
Olson has moved through his early twenties with an incredible clarity of purpose. “Dad asked me a question a long time ago: ‘If you never had to worry about money for the rest of your life, what is the one job you’d do for free?’” “I would teach,” Olson had responded at the time. “And I would teach music.”