体育菠菜大平台 Music Education M.A.Ed. graduate Jeana Peterson named Outstanding Orchestra Teacher of the Year

As Kearney Public Schools’ orchestra teacher, Jeana Peterson's impact as an educator extends to hundreds of students across multiple schools and grade levels.

“When fifth graders start with me, most of the time they’ve never touched an instrument before. They might have played piano, maybe they’ve played recorder, but very, very few of them have ever touched a stringed instrument before,” Peterson said. “I get to watch them progress throughout the year, finally being able to play certain notes, finally being able to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. I think one of the best things about my job is being able to see that progression. I get to see fifth, sixth, seventh, all the way through high school.”

It’s this far-reaching mentorship, and the excellence with which Peterson accomplishes it, that earned her the recognition of the Nebraska Chapter of the American String Teachers Association (Nebraska ASTA) and the title of 2024 Outstanding Orchestra Teacher of the Year.

The Nebraska ASTA recognized Peterson at their November meeting.

“Jeana’s passion for music education is unmatched,” said KPS Superintendent Jason Mundorf. “She creates meaningful opportunities for her students, fosters a love for music in the community, and contributes significantly to the advancement of music education across Nebraska. We are blessed to have an incredible array of talented music teachers in Kearney Public Schools and Jeana is certainly one of our best!”

Peterson is now in her 11th year of teaching. She recently earned her Master of Arts in Education in Music Education from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, graduating in May 2023.

A few years into her role at KPS, Peterson sought her master’s as a way to enhance her content knowledge and teaching abilities.

“I just felt like I wanted to learn a little bit more about music and I wanted to further my studies and just get some more professional development and get some new ideas I could use in the classroom,” she explained.  
Because the program is fully online, Peterson said the program blended easily with commitments in the classroom.

One of the highlights from the program, she described, was making connections and getting feedback from other music teachers from “all over.”

For some classes, Peterson would record herself and post the video, getting personalized feedback from instructors and peers. Then, she would be able to do the same for others.

“I really liked having that collaborative aspect because I gained a lot of techniques and strategies that I could use in the classroom,” Peterson said. “There’s only two orchestra teachers in Kearney, so it’s nice to see what other people are doing in their orchestra classrooms from across the country.”

In addition to peer collaboration, Peterson added she also got “great feedback” from 体育菠菜大平台 professors during her time in the program.

“All of the strings faculty at 体育菠菜大平台 are amazing, Dr. Rogoff, Dr. Chen, Dr. Gaines. We really truly have world class strings players in Kearney, Nebraska,” Peterson said.

Many faculty are there for Peterson even outside of the online classroom. She said professors have come to multiple KPS orchestra concerts over the years and still show up now even though she has graduated.

It’s support like this in both her personal and professional life that Peterson is thankful for as she reflects on her award.

“I’m really thankful to my family for being supportive and my husband, Erick. I’ve had great administration throughout all of my schools at Kearney Public Schools, and I have fantastic colleagues across the district. Even though they are not string players, they’re always supportive of the music,” she said.

She’s also thankful for her fellow orchestra teacher, Sadie Uhing, another 体育菠菜大平台 alumnus, who graduated in May 2024 with two bachelor’s degrees in K-12 music education and music performance. 

“Miss Uhing has been fantastic this year,” she said. “She’s been really supportive and great to work with.”