PAGE A16, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 2, 2021
RIST: ‘It was an overwhelming surprise…’ Continued from page A15
“I just decided to go for it. I just saw it as
a place where I could see myself thriving,”
Rist said.
Rist has now been at McNary for four
years and has fallen in love with the place
where he teaches.
“I love that McNary is so well integrated
into the community and I appreciate the
small town loyalty that we have,” Rist said.
“I love the vision of the high school and I
believe in what our leadership is doing. I
also really like the demographics and that
we have so many kids coming from differ-
ent walks of life.”
Rist not only has a deep love for music,
but also a passion for teaching and devel-
oping close relationships with his stu-
dents, which is why it was rough on him to
be away from his students for over a year
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I love music and believe that it is
essential to life and community. But the
choral aspect means a lot to me because
of the relationships that it creates with
students,” Rist said. “The rich and in-depth
connection with kids is what I love and is
why I feel a philosophical calling to con-
tinue this work.”
During the year of distance learning,
Rist took the situation as a challenge to
work even harder for his students. In May,
Rist instructed his students to film them-
selves singing to a rendition of “Smile” by
Nat “King” Cole. With the help of fellow
teachers Ashley Gruber and Andy Thomas,
Rist was able to create a virtual choral per-
formance of the song on YouTube — the
video has nearly 5,000 views and was fea-
tured on KGW.
Then, in October, Rist created a choir
club that involved students making their
own Soundtrap projects online and sharing
them with their classmates — Soundtrap
is an online cross-platform digital audio
workstation that allows users to create
music. The club put together multiple per-
formances, using Soundtrap to sing and
layer each section of the song to make it
sound like they were singing together.
Rist’s dedication and commitment to
his students, despite the obstacles of dis-
tance learning, was one of the main rea-
sons he was selected for the Service to
Education Award.
“I am so proud of him. Anyone who has
gotten to know him knows how special of a
man he is. He is an excellent educator and
a wonderful human with infectious posi-
tivity. This award couldn’t have gone to a
better guy,” Jespersen said. “From a musi-
cal standpoint, Josh obviously knows his
stuff. But what makes him unique is how
he brings out the most in people and how
he gives kids confidence. He did a tremen-
dous job making the most out of this year.”
Even though he has found an effective
way to reach his kids during the pandemic,
Rist is elated to have his students back in
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the new choir room at the newly renovated
school — McNary students will begin com-
ing back to in-person classes on April 13.
“This last year was by no means a wash.
I feel like I have a whole new skill-set and
have found a new way of assessing kids'
progress. I’m grateful for the experience,
but I am so thrilled to be able to teach
in-person,” Rist said. “There is so much
anticipation.”
Questions or concerns? Contact the
reporter via email: news@keizertimes.com
Saint Edward
plans Spring
Food festival
St. Edward Catholic Church is hosting
the 2021 Step into Spring Food Fest on
May 15-16.
The event will be available on
Saturday, May 15, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
and Sunday, May 16, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Step into Spring is a walk in event.
Multiple nonprofit organizations will
be providing goods that people can pur-
chase at the event. St. Edward’s Youth
Group and Boy Scouts will offer Italian
soda, iced coffee and Schreiner’s iris
bouquets, St. Edward will offer Berliner
sandwiches. St. Edward’s Hispanic
parishioners will offer tamales, Gervais
Knights of Columbus will offer barbe-
cue chicken, Father Taaffe Homes will
offer Oktoberfest sausage, Michael the
Archangel Pregnancy Center will offer
cinnamon rolls and St. Joseph School
will offer baked potatoes. Plans also
include dessert items.
By STEVE BREEN
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