Tricia West

I knew Michelle from her time with the New Hartford High School Winterguard program while she was an instructor. I had played trumpet for years and was a part of the Marching Band. I really wanted to try being in the guard and I took a shot at winterguard when I was in 8th grade.

Michelle was an instructor and designed the shows that year. Playing the trumpet and being in the band came fairly easy to me, but I had zero aptitude when it came to guard. Michele allowed everyone who tried out to be on the JV team if they didn't make the cut for the varsity guard- she didn't cut anyone. That was lucky for me because I had no idea what I was doing!

Throughout the year she taught with patience and kindness- and I slowly got the hang of things. But this isn’t a story of how Michelle transformed a newbie into a guard hero because I never became what I would even rate as average- I was still pretty bad. Rather, this is a story of how Michelle changed my life. Michelle was a goddess. She was beautiful and made everything look so easy and amazing. Even though I was terrible and had no clue, Michelle consistently encouraged me and made me feel that I could be as amazing as she was. She never made me feel bad when I wasn’t getting things right; instead she taught me how to practice in order to become better.

I don’t remember what place we came in at the end of that winterguard season and I only participated that one year, but I walked away from that experience a changed person. I never hesitate to try something new-Michelle gave me the confidence to go ahead and take a chance at anything I think I want to try no matter what. There have been so many things that I have experienced in my life since that year in Winterguard that I probably wouldn’t have if Michelle hadn’t been such an amazing person and instilled such confidence in me. I wasn’t an outstanding special case- Michelle treated everyone this way. I can’t imagine the number of people who are walking around this earth today with a stronger personal foundation thanks to the bricks of confidence Michelle has laid at their foundations.