Mary May, Director Of Bands, is one amazing woman. Everyday I wake up knowing that today I will be inspired to do something great with my life. Here at Charles Wilson Stanford Middle School in Hillsborough, NC there are many truly wonderful educators and administrators, but only one stands high in my ranks. Just by the way Mrs. May teaches us shows how much effort she puts into her job. Not only does her teachings get you far in life, she teaches you in a way that lets you perfect your instrument.

Mrs. May has been working here at CW Stanford Middle School for 10 years now. Under her directorship our band program here has grown and has been greatly improved. Also with her directorship our playing ensembles continue to get Superior ratings at the North Carolina Music Performance Adjudication each spring. Mrs. May was also recognized as Teacher or the Year, during her third year of being at CW Stanford.  Also in the community of North Carolina and Virginia she has participated in being a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for middle school and high school bands. She is also the Past-President of the  North Carolina Central District Bandmasters’ Association. She has now served on the board of this group for over 8 years.

With the help of Guest Conductors band students at CW Stanford are able to participate in many events including school and community related ceremonies, pep rallies, and end of the year celebrations. Individuals in our band also audition the be in the North Carolina Central District All District Band. This year, my seventh grade year, I was able to audition and made the second chair in Concert Band. Without the help of Mrs. May I would have not made the band. In 2015 Mrs. May helped our first chair French Horn player with his district solo and he made third chair in Symphonic Band, making him eligible to audition for All State Band. Since he is one of my close friends he asked me to come along for the auditions. After he auditioned he felt really nervous about the results but Mrs. May assured him he would make it. Later when the results came in we found out that he had made the second chair in the band. That means he is the second best French Horn player in the state. Without Mrs. May conducting us and spending a lot of time with us on our District and State solos none of us would have made any of the bands.

In 2011, the Eighth Grade Band at CW Stanford was chosen to play at the North Carolina Music Educators Conference. That means out of all the bands in North Carolina that applied to play our band was chosen. The Eighth Grade Band traveled to Winston-Salem to play for all the band directors in North Carolina, a huge achievement. G. Patrick Rhodes, the Superintendent of Orange County Schools in 2011 said in a letter written to Mrs. May, “Since coming to CW Stanford, you have been a catalyst for improving the quality of the school’s band program. Because of your excellent teaching, our students continue to be drawn to your courses. We are very proud that you will be representing us in Winston-Salem and know that the performance will be fantastic.”  Having a Band Director like this, in any school,  proves to be one of the many reasons why bands across the states improve daily.

Mrs. May also has a teaching style that I happen to like very much. She is able to show us that music is really not music at all. Music is the feelings and emotions that a composer had built up inside them before they wrote out the notes. She once told me a quote from a very wise man that I hold very close to my heart. She told me “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” A very wise man named Victor Hugo said those words and no man could ever be more right.

The way Mrs. May teaches us to listen for the feelings and emotions a piece of music describes and don’t just play the notes on the page. With her conducting and teaching our band gets Superior ratings and many other top ratings in most judged events we go to. We may face challenges along the way including losing band members but Mrs. May is able to basically snap her fingers and fix it but I’m sure behind the scenes she works hard to get us where we are.

Without my Educator for life I don’t know where I would be. Mrs. May is a good woman in and out of the classroom. She inspires me to do great things everyday and when I grow up I may not know what life will hold for me. I do know one thing that will never change, when I grow up I want to be like her. I want to be strong, inspiring, good-hearted, and a loved one in my community. In 2016 I will graduate from CW Stanford leaving one of the most heroic people in my life to the next step of my journey. If anything I will take the lessons of music and the lessons of just how successful one can be in life. Thank you Mrs. Mary May, Director of Bands, my Educator for life, and overall a hero to me and my classmates. Without you we would be lost. Charles Wilson Stanford Middle School in the small town of Hillsborough, North Carolina would not be the same without a teacher like you.