Skip to content

Okotoks teacher recognized with international award

Kathie Van Lare was inducted into the Bandworld Legion of Honour in December for showing a commitment to band and music over her 30-year teaching career.
Kathi Van Lare 9609 BWC
Kathie Van Lare conducts the Grade 10 jazz band at Holy Trinity Academy on Jan. 16. (Brent Calver/Western Wheel)

An Okotoks music teacher has received a prestigious international award for following her passion for student success.

Kathie Van Lare, jazz band director at Holy Trinity Academy, was inducted into the Bandworld Legion of Honour by the John Philip Sousa Foundation in Chicago in December 2019.

It’s still setting in for the 30-year veteran teacher, who is one of only 20 Canadians to have received the award since its inception in 1989.

“I’m pretty shocked and humbled,” said Van Lare. “I just do my thing.”

‘Her thing’ involves teaching students in the band room since 1989, as well as directing community groups like the Foothills Music Society concert band and, this year, a jazz band with Westwinds Music Society in Calgary.

Van Lare found out last May she had been nominated for the award by a member of the international committee who knew of her work and felt she embodied the criteria of the Legion of Honour, which recognizes commitment to band and music.

The nomination went before a committee and she was involved in the process as well.

“I had to outline my teaching philosophy, I had to demonstrate that bands under my direction were good, strong bands,” said Van Lare. “They wanted to know festival results from the past 10 years.”

The stats spoke for themselves, with her concert and jazz groups consistently receiving gold awards and superior ratings at the Alberta International Band Festival each spring.

Van Lare started her teaching career with the Calgary Board of Education at Ernest Morrow Junior High School in Forest Lawn. From there she taught at a few other Calgary schools before taking her 15-year position at Centennial High School in 2004.

During that time, she also worked with Alberta High School of Fine Arts for five years with the musical theatre program, directing shows like Les Miserables, Annie Get Your Gun and The Sound of Music among others.

She retired from the Calgary board in June 2019, but still teaches part-time at HTA, working early mornings with jazz bands before the school bell rings.

There’s a reason she keeps picking up the baton.

“I love music and I love what it does for kids,” said Van Lare. “The value of teamwork, the beauty of music, working together toward a goal and just the social aspect of music as well.”

Though not all of her high school students have gone on to have musical careers, she said many are leading successful lives and continue to play for fun.

Some are part of the FMS concert band, which Van Lare has conducted for 16 years.

“I’ve been very fortunate in my career to be able to work with so many great people,” she said. “Music keeps me going.”

Her passion for teaching music extended beyond high school students. Van Lare was a mentor for St. John Paul II Collegiate’s band teacher, Brianne Gruber, who was a student teacher at Centennial in 2010.

“I learned a ton,” said Gruber. “That was my first official teaching experience, and I remember pretty vividly that she threw me into the fire, so to speak.”

Within the first few days, Gruber was in front of the bands and learning classroom management and how to build her own confidence.

“I was nervous and I was a lot younger then, so teaching high school those kids were only a few years younger than me,” she said. “But [Van Lare] made me get up there and it was the best thing she could have done. It made me a better teacher, I think.”

Gruber said her mentor deserved the Legion of Honour award for more than a few reasons. Not only is she a great teacher, she’s also an incredible and sought-after musician, she said.

In the classroom, Van Lare takes the time to get to know her students well and develop good relationships with them, Gruber said.

“I think that’s why she can have high expectations for them and they reach that bar year after year after year,” said Gruber. “She knows the kids and she can laugh with the kids and have fun. She’s just an awesome person to be around.”

It’s part of Van Lare’s philosophy on life. She often tells people to ‘just be a good human,’ said Gruber.

It comes out in her teaching style.

“I know when she teaches kids it’s really important for her to teach responsibility and accountability and that ‘be a good human’ stuff first,” said Gruber. “I think that, for her, comes before the music and she wants them to succeed at music and that’s the avenue she’s teaching these things through.”

Martin Kennedy, who directs band with Van Lare at HTA and has known her for years, said her qualifications for the award go beyond the musical scores.

“She’s as kind as the day is long, loves her kids,” said Kennedy.

It was evident when, at the beginning of the school year, the Grade 12 students opted not to play in a jazz band before school because they didn’t want to be mixed in with players from other grade levels. The early morning schedule was made up without a senior level group, but those students approached Van Lare after a week or two to ask whether they could form their own jazz band.

“She just gave up her own time,” said Kennedy. “She comes here in the afternoons on Fridays to work with them, and she doesn’t even get paid for it – just because they asked for it. That’s the kind of person she is.”

He said Van Lare’s abilities have her flying frequently to Winnipeg, where she’s in high demand as a player and clinician, as well as to many festivals and other events in Alberta.

She’s held in high regard province-wide, and across North America, he said.

“She can be as busy as she wants for the rest of her life, because they’ll always keep calling her,” said Kennedy. “She’s that good.”

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks