As Kearney Public Schools’ orchestra teacher, Jeana Peterson's impact as an educator extends to hundreds of students across multiple schools and grade levels.

“When fifth graders start with me, most of the time they’ve never touched an instrument before. They might have played piano, maybe they’ve played recorder, but very, very few of them have ever touched a stringed instrument before,” Peterson said. “I get to watch them progress throughout the year, finally being able to play certain notes, finally being able to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. 我认为我的工作中最好的事情之一就是能够看到这种进步。 I get to see fifth, sixth, seventh, all the way through high school.”

It’s this far-reaching mentorship, and the excellence with which Peterson accomplishes it, that earned her the recognition of the 美国弦乐教师协会太阳城娱乐官网分会 (Nebraska ASTA) and the title of 2024 Outstanding Orchestra Teacher of the Year.

太阳城娱乐官网ASTA在11月的会议上承认了彼得森。

“Jeana’s passion for music education is unmatched,” said KPS Superintendent Jason Mundorf. “She creates meaningful opportunities for her students, fosters a love for music in the community, and contributes significantly to the advancement of music education across Nebraska. We are blessed to have an incredible array of talented music teachers in Kearney Public Schools and Jeana is certainly one of our best!”

彼得森现在是她执教的第11个年头。 She recently earned her 音乐教育教育学硕士 from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, graduating in May 2023.

A few years into her role at KPS, Peterson sought her master’s as a way to enhance her content knowledge and teaching abilities.

“I just felt like I wanted to learn a little bit more about music and I wanted to further my studies and just get some more professional development and get some new ideas I could use in the classroom,” she explained.  
彼得森说，由于该项目完全在网上进行，因此很容易与课堂教学相结合。

One of the highlights from the program, she described, was making connections and getting feedback from other music teachers from “all over.”

在一些课程上，彼得森会录制自己的视频，并发布出来，从老师和同学那里获得个性化的反馈。 然后，她将能够为其他人做同样的事情。

“I really liked having that collaborative aspect because I gained a lot of techniques and strategies that I could use in the classroom,” Peterson said. “There’s only two orchestra teachers in Kearney, so it’s nice to see what other people are doing in their orchestra classrooms from across the country.”

In addition to peer collaboration, Peterson added she also got “great feedback” from 太阳城娱乐官网 professors during her time in the program.

“All of the strings faculty at 太阳城娱乐官网 are amazing, Dr. Rogoff, Dr. Chen, Dr. Gaines. We really truly have world class strings players in Kearney, Nebraska,” Peterson said.

许多教员甚至在网络课堂之外也为彼得森提供帮助。 她说，在过去的几年里，教授们多次来到KPS管弦乐团的音乐会，即使她已经毕业了，他们仍然会来。

It’s support like this in both her personal and professional life that Peterson is thankful for as she reflects on her award.

“I’m really thankful to my family for being supportive and my husband, Erick. I’ve had great administration throughout all of my schools at Kearney Public Schools, and I have fantastic colleagues across the district. Even though they are not string players, they’re always supportive of the music,” she said.

She’s also thankful for her fellow orchestra teacher, Sadie Uhing, another 太阳城娱乐官网 alumnus, who graduated in May 2024 with two bachelor’s degrees in K-12 music education and music performance. 

“Miss Uhing has been fantastic this year,” she said. “She’s been really supportive and great to work with.”