Jon Marquez was recently awarded the 2019 Hastings Public Schools Young Educator of the Year award. He has been the director of the Hastings High varsity show choir, all of the curricular choirs, and the musicals for the last three years. He is also a member of the Nebraska Choir Directors Association and the Nebraska Music Educator Association.
His talent and hard work have been recognized by many at Hastings High. The individual who nominated Marquez wrote a short message explaining these assets.
“Mr. Marquez has been a fabulous addition to our school district. The progress and dedication he has demonstrated with our music program is unmatched. Jon reaches out to ALL students,” anonymous said.
When Marquez received this award, he was in awe. He reflected on receiving the award with utter humbleness.
“It is the biggest honor I’ve received, and I still can’t believe that I was chosen for this award because there are so many other outstanding applicants,” Marquez said.
Marquez has taught in three school districts but is seemingly most fond of the Hastings Public Schools District.
“This (district) is by far the best one I have taught in throughout my career. It’s a complete honor to be the Choir Director at Hastings High,” Marquez said.
Marquez dedicates his successes this year and previous years to his talented students that are “always willing to go the extra mile.” For that reason, his teaching style is quite different from many other vocal music teachers.
“I think that a vocal music teacher has to care about the product as well the students that are producing the music,” Marquez said.
Of course, everyone has an adult figure in their life that greatly influenced how they think and act as a person and as an educator. For Marquez, that was his highly respected and successful high school band director.
“I knew that he cared about us as students but he also cared about us representing the high school in the very best way that we could every time we competed. I respected his teaching so much that I carried his ways into my own,” Marquez said.
Always striving for excellence, Marquez wants his students to do the best they possibly can in any type of performance by encouraging them to always act like they are competing.
“I think that these habits shine through with what we do on stage and the accolades that we have received under my direction,” Marquez said.
Although this year has been filled with success, Marquez strives to make the Hastings Senior High Vocal Music Program even better.
“Next year I’m hoping that more students will go out for choir, so we can continue to grow a successful choir program,” Marquez said.
Photo Courtesy of Weber Studios
