Kate Janke

Zach Huber
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Kate Janke When you think of someone influential in your life it’s usually someone very close to you. To a child it’s usually a superhero or one of their parents. To me this is not the case. Kate Janke, a music teacher and theatre arts instructor at the high school of Park Center, is one individual who has changed me as a person, and made me who I am today. Ms. Janke’s qualities of directing in the theatre program, teaching the subject of music, and having an open, down to earth type of personality helped shape me to be who I am today. To begin, I wasn’t the most popular kid in school, but I did manage to have quite a few friends. It wasn’t until I got introduced to
I wasn’t the greatest singer in the world, but I still had confidence; confidence in that I can do better and learn. Ms. Janke helped build that confidence by being my own personal voice teacher twice a week after school and I saw much improvement. I would have never considered singing, especially to a crowd of people, but this all changed when I met Kate. She was my choral instructor for three years while attending school. I saw much improvement in my voice range and tone. I improved so much that I got up the courage and sang the national anthem at one of our high school’s football games. When it was all said and done, people were looking at me and applauding. Ms. Janke once told me that I can do anything if I just worked hard. Because of my National Anthem performance, she was right. To this day I sing for people, and when I help people in their musical struggles I pass down her message to work hard, have confidence, and to not give
Ms. Janke was not just my instructor; she turned out to be a close friend and wanted to help anyone who desired to improve. Yes, the instructors at the school may be there to help you get through high school, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be your friend. I treated Ms. Janke as if she was just “one of the guys.” We would joke around, laugh, and tell stories of what went on outside of the classroom. She also helped me become more confident in my ability to be more open and less confined to myself when around other people. I was a very shy person, but thanks to her advice of having effective communication and not caring about other people’s opinions as much I turned out to be outspoken and communicated well with