Center News

Laura (Schule) Perry

BA, Music Education, 2009
M.M.M.E. 2013 (Kent State University)
K-8 Music Teacher, AZ

My fellow music students thought I was crazy becoming one of the first music majors to work at the Speaking Center. Although this position may not have “music” in the title, it has strong relevancy to leadership and presentation skills that I use every day.

Establishing credibility, working with a diverse population, and helping others identify and reach their goals are all skills pertinent to being a teacher. Working as a communication consultant really teaches you how to listen and respond effectively to solve problems and identify solutions without applying pre-conceived bias. Training as a consultant significantly affected my ability to positively interact with parents of students in all types of situations.

The competencies I developed while creating workshops as a consultant transfer over to music lesson creation. In fact, the lesson structure that my district uses is only a slight variation of that which I used at the Speaking Center! I use techniques relating to management such as physical proximity in my everyday life. Also, in addition to teaching in the classroom, I often find myself in public speaking situations outside the classroom and the experience I gained while working as a communication consultant really shows!

Finally, my organizational skills and communication skills enabled me to organize and head the first ever District Music Festival for our school system. We had 110 students participate from eight different school campuses, with four different ensemble performances! I cannot wait to see where the competencies I have gained along the way take me