Benjamin Olson – new WHS band instructor.

by Amber Schmitz, Sumner Newscow — Benjamin Olson, native of Iola, Kan., teaches band like you would teach kids how to play basketball.

“I love marching bands,” Olson said. “To me it’s a sport, one of the best sports because everyone plays the whole game, everyone plays all the time.”

In a recent band camp, Olson had the students run, do pushups, run drills and do fundamentals, like basketball.

“We don’t hand out plays, we start with passing, running, etc.,” Olson said. “I take the same approach with marching bands. It’s the same program I worked with in Iola, and it was made into a fantastic program in the last three years. I’m kind of following that suit, as I’ve seen that with hard work and ethic, once they see that it succeeds, they start working harder and become successful. I’ve seen what kids can do when they work hard and the fruits of their labor. It generates enthusiasm like you wouldn’t believe.”

Olson graduated from Ottawa University in December 2014 with a teaching degree. He has a bachelors in music with a K-12 teaching minor and license. He graduated from high school in Iola, Kans.

Olson’s wife, Nachele Gonsalez, earned a degree in English from Ottawa University, and is currently taking a year off to pursue her career in writing.

“She’s always wanted to be an author, but we’ve never had the financial opportunity,” Olson said. “I’m really excited for her.”

This will be Olson’s first full year of teaching. He student taught in Iola, and was also a semester sub in band. He even went on trips with the school as assistant band director. Iola High School made sure to include him and made him part of their program.

Olson wants to get kids out playing, and wants to start jazz band after school starts.

“I want them to go play venues, Barefoot Jerry’s, somewhere where people can hear them,” Olson said. “Otherwise, they are only heard at concerts and games, so this way people can hear them and see their progress. I want the community to be involved and hear them.”

Right now, Olson is working on building fundamentals and relationships with the students as a first year teacher.

“I’m building a foundation, that’s how we’ll grow, I would love to see the program grow,” Olson said. “As nice as the district is, as nice as the buildings are, I’m excited to see where it goes from here. At band camp, kids who were there, had no idea what to expect when they showed up. To see where it’s going and see their enthusiasm, I was really excited. I’m ready to go, I was disappointed school starting was postponed. We’re going to go hard and loud, that’s the band’s motto.”

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