Northwest High School choir teacher Marleisa Amsden will retire at the end of this school year, after a 29-year career in education.
Amsden, 51, said she has loved watching students have their “a-ha” moments.
“It’s fun to see the kids starting a new song they’ve never seen or heard before and then have that moment where it all comes together and they start making music and hearing their new parts,” she said.
Amsden said more than 3,000 students have walked through her classroom doors over the years. She started working for the Northwest R-1 School District 23 years ago at Brennan Woods Elementary School. For the past 13 years, she has been based at the high school, and she teaches choir groups from both the high school and Woodridge Middle School.
She directs the varsity, show, treble, and mixed choirs.
Amsden said it was a challenge to make the transition from teaching elementary school students to high schoolers.
“I love (elementary) kids because they’re so willing to do anything and everything you ask them to do,” Amsden said. “I really never saw myself as a high school teacher until the district transferred me here. It was kind of scary because I never taught high school before. When I came in, I was like, ‘Can I do this?’ I had to retrain back to my roots in high school (choir) and district contests.”
Amsden said once she fully acclimated to teaching high school choir, she really enjoyed it.
“I don’t think I could go back to elementary school because the high school kids just get into it so much more,” she said. “You use those harmonies in high school that you don’t get in elementary. All of the kids here want to be here, and they enjoy it.”
Northwest High Principal Stella Viehland said Amsden has been an asset to the school.
“Ms. Amsden’s performances are always classy affairs, complete with lights, robes and even expectations for concert demeanor,” Viehland said. “Concert audiences know they are attending special performances that a great amount of hard work went into preparing.”
Chuck McPherson, communications coordinator for Northwest, said Amsden’s official retirement date is June 30, 2024.
He said she will be paid $67,435 this school year, not including extra duty.
McPherson said the district will post the choir teacher job opening closer to the end of the school year.
“Ms. Amsden will be missed on the Northwest High and Woodridge Middle School campuses,” Viehland said.
Her own “a-ha” moment
Amsden said she grew up singing in the choir at First Baptist Church of De Soto, and a De Soto High School teacher helped her realize that singing was not just a passion but a vocation.
“When I was in high school, I had an awesome choir teacher, Chuck Phegley,” Amsden said. “I was at that point where I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to do something in music. I helped out with the mixed choir that Mr. Phegley had, and it was a fun time for me. I enjoyed seeing those kids light up when they made music, even when I was in high school.”
Amsden graduated from De Soto High School in 1990 and went on to earn an associate degree from Jefferson College in 1992 and a bachelor’s degree in vocal music from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 1994.
Amsden began her teaching career in 1995 at Meramec Valley Middle School, now Pacific Intermediate, in the Meramec Valley R-3 School District. After two years there, she moved to De Soto Junior High School.
“I was at the De Soto district for four years before moving to Northwest,” she said.
Amsden went back to school in 2005 and earned a master’s degree in educational administration from Lindenwood University.
“I thought I wanted to be an administrator, but when I dove in, I decided, nope, that’s not for me,” she said. “I didn’t get to spend as much time with the kids, and I was disappointed in that because I love to teach. It felt like I was going to be in an office and I wasn’t going to be able to be with as many kids as I wanted to be.”
Viehland said she’s happy Amsden stuck with teaching.
“She had the ability to connect with students,” Viehland said. “She challenged their vocal abilities but also invested time in caring about their overall success in school, often asking them about their other classes and progress on grades. Many students sought out Ms. Amsden when they were struggling with issues outside the classroom; she is a trusted adult for many.”
Amsden said one of her favorite parts of teaching is taking the varsity and show choirs on a yearly trip to Branson, Chicago or Nashville.
She said her most memorable trip was the first one to Nashville in 2014, when she and her students visited the Grand Ole Opry.
“The kids just loved it, and that was probably our favorite trip because they got to go onto the stage where the people who were performing that night stood,” Amsden said. “I have such great kids here in the program. They’re so well-behaved; they do what they’re supposed to do and they’re always on time. I just have great kids.”
Her next adventure
Amsden said after retirement, she looks forward to spending time with family and friends, especially taking “glamping trips” – or glamorous camping trips – with them.
She and her husband, Gabe, a production manager at Czar Weld Tools Inc., live in House Springs. They have been married since 1997 and have two children – Preston, who graduated from Northwest High in 2019 and Molly, a 2023 Northwest High grad.
“I’m only 51, so I’m going to have to find something to do because my husband probably won’t retire for a few more years,” Amsden said. “I’m going to play it by ear and see where life takes me.”