First Posted: 2/24/2015
CONVOY — When words fail, music speaks.
And so was the case for Crestview music teacher, Lindsey Newlove, who was speechless when told she was Ohio Music Education Association’s 2015 Outstanding Young Music Educator.
“I’m not even sure what I told them over the phone,” she said. “I was shocked.”
The award recognizes the top young music educator in Ohio with three to eight years of experience. She was nominated by retired music teacher Richard Sherrick as someone who showed leadership in music education, contributing professional and personal time to promote music.
A St. Marys native, Newlove grew up in a house of education — both her parents were teachers. Newlove graduated from Memorial High School in 2006 and studied at Ohio Northern before joining Crestview as a music teacher in 2010. She also has a master’s degree from Bowling Green.
Principal Kathy Mollenkopf, one of the administrators involved in hiring Newlove, said the instructor went through a rigorous interview process before earning the spot. What made Newlove standout was seeing her in the classroom.
“That really was the piece that allowed me to know that this was the young lady I wanted,” Mollenkopf said. “If you were to meet Lindsey and watch her personally, you would walk out of her classroom feeling energized.”
In her second year, Newlove received the Jerry Lewis McDonald’s MAC grant to get a classroom set of guitars. The addition enabled her to not only teach students how to play recorders in third grade, but also how to play guitars in fourth, fifth and sixth grades.
Hoping to share music and students’ talent with the community, Newlove started a program allowing third-graders to sing the national anthem at basketball games, she also works with the art teacher to host a weeklong summer camp.
“Lindsey is not your traditional come to school 8 to 3 kind of music teacher,” Mollenkopf said.
Newlove also organizes multiple concerts throughout the year, each with its own theme including bugs and animals for kindergartners. In April, the older students’ concert will feature pop music. She loves to teach students how to sing or about composers like Leonard Bernstein, but she struggles to pinpoint what’s best about her job.
“I love just about all of it,” she said.
