KGAL/KSHO "Teacher Feature" Nomination  

Nominee: Julie Buchert, full time Music Teacher

Memorial Middle Schoo

Greater Albany School District 

Background: Memorial Middle School was first constructed in 1963. At the time, the school music program was outfitted with a complete array of band instruments. When Julie arrived as a student in the early 1970's, the band had nice looking, well maintained instruments to loan to students whose parents could not afford to rent or purchase instruments in order to participate in the band. The district provided a yearly repair and maintenance budget to keep the instruments in good condition.  

When Julie returned as the music teacher in 1998, she found that the district could no longer afford a maintenance budget and almost none of the instruments had been replaced since 1963. As a team player in the district, she wants to prepare students for their future and wants music to be a part of their lives. Truly dedicated to her musicians, she believes it is very important for each to have a quality instrument to play even if they cannot afford to provide one for themselves. 

Notable Achievements:

Faced with a daunting task of providing a music opportunity to so many students, Julie enthusiastically took it upon herself to obtain the instruments her students desperately needed. She began writing grants to any group that might grasp her vision for the future of her program and worked closely within the community to achieve the following:  

- Mr. Holland's Opus foundation gave her $9,200. This was enough for a new bassoon and $2,200 in instrument repairs.

- The Meyer Memorial Trust awarded her $1350 to purchase jazz music for the newly developed jazz band program.

- Worked with the Albany School Foundation and collected 22 instruments from the community through a donation/tax deduction program. Received Foundation funds to repair those instruments.

- Received $2,500 from an anonymous donor to pay for transportation to participate in contests and festivals.

- Julie and her mother collected donations from area farmers and others to raise $4,500 to purchase 150 monogrammed fleece jackets for band students to wear during outside events.

- Received several donations from the East Albany Lions club for instrument repairs and her students have collected pop cans and bottles to raise additional funds.

- Will likely receive $30,000 from the Snowman Foundation. The organization had historically provided top quality pianos to schools. Ms. Buchert believes she was successful in redirecting the organization's gift toward purchase band instruments instead.  

When Julie was first hired at Memorial Middle School seven years ago, there were 75 students in three band classes. There are currently four bands at the school with more than 190 musicians.  

Should this extraordinarily dedicated teacher be selected as the winning "Teacher Feature," I am sure she would ask that all prizes be directed to her music programs.  

Nomination submitted by:             Jim Haggart, Greater Albany School District Office,

718 Seventh Avenue, Albany OR 97321 (541) 967-4511