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Let’s hear it for Mr. Shay!

Longtime North Tama music teacher directs his final Swing Show

North Tama K-12 vocal music teacher Terry Shay, center, poses for a photograph on the high school gym stage surrounded by past and present students last Friday following Swing Show. Mr. Shay, retiring at the end of the school year, directed his first Swing Show in 1991 and his last show on Saturday. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
Members of the North Tama Mixed Chorus perform “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” – including the only male member of the group, foreign exchange student Adib Asyraf Abdul Aziz, center – during last Friday’s Swing Show program. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
Levi Zobel takes the stage as a Redhawk cheerleader as part of the Swing Show skit “Dance Team Tryouts” last Friday evening in Traer. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
Case Monat is lifted and carried during the Coed Dance Team Swing Show number “Dance Battle” to the song “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” from the film Dirty Dancing last Friday in Traer. Levi Zobel (right), Michael Schrier, Ryan Hosek, and Ty Guthrie also performed. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
Members of the Dance Team including (l-r) Emma Boldy, Ava Monat, Olivia Ketter, Gabryella Velasco, and Grace Lidgett perform on the North Tama gym stage on Friday, March 10, as part of Swing Show 2023. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
Madison McKee performs the clarinet solo “See You Again” during last Friday evening’s Swing Show program in Traer. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
Members of the North Tama Concert Band including (l-r) Alex Meggers, Grace Lidgett, Rebecca Visser, Johnathan Cochran, Madison Schults, Alexiz Chizek, and Levi Zobel perform the piece “Misty Mountain” during Swing Show 2023 last Friday evening on the gym stage in Traer. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
The skit “Country Magic Men” – a riff on the film franchise “Magic Mike” – is cleanly and cleverly performed by the quartet (l-r) Ryan Hosek, Mason Hosek, Clayton Boldt, and Levi Zobel last Friday evening during the North Tama Swing Show. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
Pianist Johnathan Cochran plays the piece “Salamander Eyes” during the Friday, March 10 Swing Show program in Traer. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
Members of the North Tama Dance Team including (l-r) Emma Boldy, Grace Lidgett, Olivia Ketter, Gabryella Velasco, and Ava Monat perform “Dance Through the Decades” during North Tama Swing Show 2023 last Friday in Traer. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
Senior Brooklyn Johanningmeier sings “I’ll Stand By You” last Friday on the high school gym stage during North Tama Swing Show 2023. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
The hilarious skit “Belly Dance” is performed by Lydia Taylor, Ava Monat, Gabryella Velasco, Lillian Laws, Andrea Kucera, and Olivia Ketter during last Friday’s Swing Show program in Traer. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON
The North Tama Concert Band percussion ensemble channels their inner Top Gun characters to perform “Top Drum” last Friday as part of Swing Show 2023. Percussionists include (l-r) Ty “Pony” Guthrie, Mason “Duck” Hosek, Ryan “Toothless” Hosek, Case “Eagle” Monat, Michael “Hang Man” Schrier, Levi “Bob” Zobel, Izzy “Tucson” Hallett, Danika “Phoenix” Wrage, and Max “Sparky” Monat.
Members of the North Tama Concert Band percussion ensemble including (l-r) Mason Hosek, Michael Schrier (on trap set), Case Monat, Izzy Hallett, Levi Zobel, Max Monat, and Danika Wrage perform the piece “Top Drum” while dressed up in Top Gun film attire last Friday during Swing Show 2023. PHOTO BY SOREN M. PETERSON

It was a bittersweet North Tama Swing Show last Friday and Saturday nights in Traer as retiring vocal music teacher Terry Shay directed his final iteration of the music department’s annual variety show.

Despite what the National Weather Service coined “menacing March snow” on Thursday – which lead to a postponement of the two-night show by a day – and again on Saturday, ‘Radio Rewind’ took to the gym stage, featuring more than two dozen student performances including comedy skits, dance routines, and choral and band performances both solo and ensemble.

The show’s music spanned the 1960s to the present as part of the “rewind” theme – a fitting farewell for the beloved Mr. Shay who directed his first Swing Show back in 1991.

From the opening numbers “Die Young” performed by the Concert Band under the direction of teacher Channing Halstead and “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” performed by the Mixed Chorus – to the audience favorite percussion ensemble “Top Drum’ which riffed off the 1986 film Top Gun – to the final 80s medley choral performance, the program was packed with great music.

At the end of Friday’s show, all past and present students of Mr. Shay’s were invited to the stage for a group photo with Shay in the center as a final tribute.

“To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement,” Mr. Shay wrote on Facebook following Friday’s show. “Thanks to my wonderful kids for surprising me and my colleague Channing for helping orchestrate and take the [group] photo. My heart was full.”

In a separate post, Mr. Shay also wrote: “33 swing shows and one thing has never ever changed….I have the best students and I have loved them all.”