New Hampton gives young teacher start

Eliott Kuchera laughed when he was asked the question — so, were you excited or nervous as you took the podium to conduct the New Hampton Concert Band at Monday night’s Winter Music Festival?“Well, it was probably a little bit of Column A and a little bit of Column B,” said the Wartburg College senior who has spent this semester student teaching band at New Hampton Community Schools. “You know, though, actually, I was just pretty excited. To hear how far the kids had come was amazing. When we first did this, we had trouble getting through two measures, and now, they play this epic so well. It was awesome.”So was the rest of the holiday concert as scores of New Hampton students who are members of the Concert Band, the Chamber Choir and Nu-Hi Chorale sang and played their instruments.— For more on this story, see the Dec. 7 New Hampton Tribune.