Welcome, Ms. Wissink!

Welcome, Ms. Wissink!

Angel Trinh, Editor In Chief

After working as a part-time music director last  school year, Ms. Lisabeth Wissink  has joined the East staff full-time as the Assistant Vocal Music Director. In addition to teaching multiple choirs, Wissink assists with the 10-12 Grade Marching Band, on top of directing the Chamber Strings Orchestra–a fourteen-member ensemble that has branched off of the Varsity Orchestra. The Chamber Strings Ensemble was created for the top players of the Varsity orchestra to gain playing experience by tackling more advanced music in a separate group, in addition to mastering the music with the entire 10-12 Grade Orchestra. They are separated this year to accommodate for the massive amount of orchestra students. With this new separate entity, East has three orchestras: The Freshmen Orchestra, The Varsity Orchestra, and Chamber Strings.

Wissink has always wanted to teach music because  of the amount of joy it brings to her life. “The effort and hard work we put into making music is completely worth it when we can bring joy to others through our music and create something beautiful and meaningful.”

She loves her job in East’s Music Department which is filled with over 200 students in both the 9th grade and the 10-12 Grade  Marching Bands, as well as countless students that fill up three orchestras.  “The staff is incredible to work with, and I’ve greatly appreciated my colleagues. My students are awesome! They are hard workers and teach me so much about life and learning.”

Wissink marvels at the number of students in orchestra. “I think it’s awesome that so many students are in orchestra! Both Mr. Whitman, the director of the 10-12 grade orchestra, and Mr. Thorpe, the director of the 9th grade orchestra, are teachers who inspire their students to set high goals and work to attain them. Aspiring for excellence can be such a rewarding experience, and orchestra is one of the many outlets at East that allows students to work as a team toward a higher goal.”

As school goes on and our music department continues to grow, East is very thankful to have another instructor join the ongoing effort to achieve excellence with every measure. Welcome, Ms. Wissink!