NICK LEIST WINS PRESTIGIOUS ART AWARD

Leist, center, receives the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts Otto Dingledein Award from Herb Wickham during halftime of the Jackson-Farmington football game Oct. 28. At left is Leist's wife Judy.

Leist said the most rewarding part of his njob is watching his students grow from childhood to young adulthood.

Nick Leist says being nominated for the prestigious Otto Dingeldein Award was honor enough for him. Actually winning the art award was something he never imagined would happen.

The surprise was evident on the longtime Jackson schools music director's face Oct. 28 when he received the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts award in a surprise ceremony during halftime at the Jackson High School football game.

"I was just tremendously honored," Leist said of receiving the Dingeldein Award. "I was speechless. I could not be more happy with any award."

The Otto Dingeldein Award was established by the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts to honor individuals and organizations whose artistic achievements have made considerable impact on the cultural enrichment of the community and is awarded to artists in the areas of drama, writing, the visual arts, music or dance. It is designed to recognize lifelong enrichment of local arts through arts-related activities or through state and national recognition for artistic pursuits.

The award was established in 1975 and is named for the late Otto F. Dingeldein, founder of the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts. Dingeldein was a well-known Cape Girardeau silversmith and founded the arts council.

The council's annual dinner, during which the award is typically given, was also held on the evening of Oct. 28 but because Leist's job required him to direct the high school marching band during the halftime show, he was unable to attend.

Rather than wait for Leist to come to the banquet, council members took the banquet to him. Leist, who did not know he had been named to receive the award, stood in the middle of the Jackson football field Oct. 28 waiting for his band to march on for the halftime show but was instead greeted by longtime friend and arts council board member Herb Wickham.

"It was so funny, honestly, because I was out there waving the band onto the field and Herb Wickham starts walking out and I thought, 'Herb, get out of here; I've got to get the band on the field,'" said Leist. "I had no idea and was totally shocked; it was a pleasant surprise."

Wickham, a Jackson artist and longtime art educator in Jackson's schools, nominated Leist for the award and said the selfless attitude that Leist takes to his work, coupled with the impact he's had on instrumental music in the area, make the music educator a very deserving recipient of the Dingeldein Award.

"This guy's attitude -- he's genuine and sincere," Wickham said of his friend. "He won't understand why he was picked because he's so modest. That's just the way he is but everyone else will know why he was chosen.

"The thing that makes Nick Leist so influential in music around here is the reason that he couldn't be at the dinner meeting to receive the award -- he couldn't be sick or hurt enough to miss his band activities.

"He works so hard," added Wickham, "and he expects nothing in return except personal satisfaction."

Leist is a band instructor for grades 7 through 12 at Jackson. He began in the local school in 1968 but has taught in Bootheel schools throughout his career.

After graduating from the Illmo-Fornfelt-Ancell High School, now Scott City High School, in 1958, Leist earned a bachelor's degree in music education from Southeast Missouri State University and began work as band director at Advance High School the following school term. From 1962 through 1965, he was both band and choir director at Hayti and from 1965 to the 1968, he was band director at Caruthersville.

Leist joined the Jackson district in 1968 as band and choir director but now is the high school marching band director and is an instrumental instructor in both the junior and senior high schools.

He also holds a master's degree in music education from Southeast.

In nominating Leist for the award, Wickham cited the band director's longtime involvement with the SEMO Band Association's area band festival as one example of the kind of lifelong contribution Leist has made to area band music.

Leist first became involved in the band festivals as a band instructor at Caruthersville, helping organize the Bootheel division festival at Kennett. Leist began coordinating the Jackson festival upon his arrival in 1968 and has continued to do so throughout his 27-year tenure at Jackson.

Leist is a longtime officer of the SEMO Band Association and was named its "Educator of the Year" in 1993.

In addition to his activities at the high school, Leist has served as conductor of the Jackson Municipal Band for the last 25 years.

Leist said the most rewarding part of his career as an educator has been watching and contributing to the growth of his students from childhood to young adulthood.

"The thing I enjoy most is working with the kids and watching them grow both musically and emotionally," he said. "We are fortunate in that we are able to see the music students from the seventh grade and during that time, we see them grow and mature and see their personalities develop as they grow into productive adults.

"That's one of the things I enjoy about my involvement in the band festival is being able to see the growth and development of the bands from year to year," he added.

Probably the first thing you notice about Nick Leist when talking to him about his career in Jackson schools is the fact that he almost always uses the word "we" as opposed to the word "I."

"We have a team-teaching approach in the band program at Jackson and it allows each of us to focus on our level of expertise in teaching," said Leist, explaining that much of the success of the Jackson band program can be attributed to the work of fellow band instructors Scott Vangilder and Pat Schwent.

Leist said the team-teaching approach allows each teacher to contribute to the success of the whole band by teaching in his or her area of expertise. While Leist teaches low brass -- trombones, baritones, tubas and French horns -- Vangilder focuses on instructing percussionists and trumpeters while Schwent instructs the woodwinds musicians.

"We don't try to turn out a whole bunch of professional players at Jackson, although some turn out to be professional musicians," said Leist. "It's not the thrust of our program. What we try to do is turn out good 'consumers' of music who can appreciate all types of music. We like to have good consumers of music and if we turn out some people who become professionals, great.

"What we really try to do," said Leist, "is contribute to the growth process of the student. Music, like all of the arts, requires tremendous self-discipline and we hope that the students learn some of that self-discipline and learn to work as a unit. In our band classes, each individual part contributes to the whole."