Hands-on experiences help open students’ eyes to creativity and the work of the Creator
By Jay Sorgi
for the Register
The students at St. Teresa School in Lincoln sing a hymn as a communion meditation during Mass, led by music teacher Terri Schilmoeller. The end of the hymn includes a poignant place where the kids offer the Easter-inspired words, “He lives.”
“At the end, there was a crescendo, and in great volume and harmony, the children sang,” St. Teresa Principal Sister Mary Michael, C.K., said.
“I’m rejoicing in that as we come from church, and then I learned that Terri wrote the song. So we have a teacher who doesn’t just teach music. She embodies so much of what we’re doing here.”
A 2024 Diocese of Lincoln elementary educator of the year, Schilmoeller acts as a faith and energy-infused hub of the group of faculty members who make music a central point in the school’s life of living the mission Lincoln Bishop James D. Conley calls for, “Educate to inspire virtue, service, and a thirst to know Jesus.”
“The goal of our Catholic school is to help the children see the goodness, beauty, and truth of our Lord, and a lot of that comes through an experience of that goodness and beauty in the arts,” said Sister Mary Michael. “Expansion of the arts in every way is one of the shifts that we’re working on.”
“There’s one element about music and the arts, which is creativity,” Schilmoeller said.
“God is a creator. And when we are participating in something creative, that’s an experience, us creating with the gifts that the Creator gave us, which is spiritual, and it is emotional. As we are spiritual and physical and emotional beings, somehow music taps into all of those things better than a lot of other avenues can.”
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SNR photos | Natalie Bender
By far, St. Teresa’s commitment to tap into the lives of young people using music stands as a team effort throughout the faculty.
The many-hands-on-deck approach to bringing music into the scholastic life includes preschool teacher Theresa Schafers offering an early musical foundation with memorization of nursery rhymes, continual work on rhythm, and plenty of singing. It also includes Grace Fusselman’s math students singing the Pater Noster (Latin for Our Father) before class, third grade teacher Cindy Werner’s brother demonstrating the accordion, a co-teacher for strings in Diane Emme Stinton, and the work Melissa Wilson does in teaching band to fifth- through eighth-graders.
“Everybody working together creates a harmony and a beauty that allows all of us to excel and to rejoice in one another’s goodness,” Schilmoeller said.
“The younger grades are going to walk a mile up the road to a nursing home and do a whole show for the nursing home, (performing) with the nursing home band. I had that idea, but the other teachers have to be on board and say, ‘Oh yeah, that’d be cool. Let’s do it.’ They’re the ones that walk the kids, and there’s a lot of team-playing going on.”
That team playing happens on a busy schedule and well-varied musical education platform, from guitar, piano and violin-specific lessons to a bluegrass concert, from folk dancing to Star Wars and Broadway songs, from patriotic shows to musicals, from three-part harmony lessons in garage band to Christmas concerts, all with the Catholic faith and an extension of classical education underlying each activity.
The team spread far beyond the faculty, as Schilmoeller sees how family and community discover the incredible menu of musical activity their students experience, and make sure it continues.
“People got excited by the first few concerts that we had, Christmas concerts, and they approached me and said, how can I partner with you? Or how can I help support you?” Schilmoeller said, with donated guitars hanging behind her on the walls.
“It was really generous benefactors who bought all of the orchestra instruments. We own all the violins and cellos, and two basses and violas that the students play. We own all the guitars. A lot of the benefactors are grandparents who come to the concerts and they see what their kids are doing, and they’re like, ‘That’s cool. Can I write you a check?’ ‘Yes, you can.’”
She said the space where music most catechizes these kids, however, is within the music they co-create at Mass, in English, Latin and Spanish.
“Kids don’t need to be told when they sound good. They know when it sounds good. Being able to sing well in church, when Jesus is right there, is extremely powerful for kids,” Schilmoeller said.
“‘Okay, so kids, you’re singing the song “King of Kings.” Jesus is going to be right there in the room with you.’ Just imagine that. You’re singing “King of Kings,” and the King is right there.’ Just helping kids make small connections about the fact that what they’re doing matters goes a long way.”
She said all this is to help achieve the goal of being in awe of God with how “delightful” the world is.
“Ultimately we’re trying to inspire joy and wonder in them,” Schilmoeller said. “The purpose of that is not for the sake of joy and wonder, but it’s for the sake of being drawn closer to the Creator.”
