Murray, NEB- We would like to offer our congratulations to Conestoga Jr./Sr. High School’s music teacher Cassi Vallis. As quoted from the school’s Twitter, “She has earned the Nebraska State Bandmaster Association (NSBA) Jack R. Snider Young Band Director Award!” She works her tail off for all of Conestoga’s students. Along with being the head of the Band and Choir, she also teaches Conestoga’s Guitar class and Music Appreciation class. We are enormously proud of her and all the hard work she put in to receive this award.

Of course, this is very well deserved. “This award originated in 1986 and is awarded to NSBA members in their third through seventh year of teaching.” Therefore, we want to say good job to Vallis! This tweet was also released on Jan 17, at 9:17 p.m.

This was also the day Vallis found out she had won this award! Vallis declared, “I was very ecstatic, and I was very proud of my band students because if they weren’t as awesome as they are, there’s no way I would even be considered for this award!” She stated that she had applied for this award that would be given out to one teacher. After this, she would have to find more nominations for her from parents, teachers, students, staff, and other band directors.

Once she had collected all of the nomination letters, she had to find a primary nominator, then fill out the application herself. She had to do this by answering questions, and once she was finished, it was finally time for her to send in her application. From here, the board selection committee of NBSA presidents had to decide who should win this award. Afterwards, she finally won the award. On March 4, a ceremony will be held for her to receive the award. Fun fact from Vallis, herself, said that when she was a junior in high school, her director also won the award! Here are a few links Vallis used during her process that you can check out:

NBSA Website: https://nsbma.org/
Award Information: https://nsbma.org/awards
Application Information: https://nsbma.org/Content/Media/File/awards/Snider_Nomination_Form.pdf