After seven years of teaching choral and general music at ConVal High School in Peterborough, Krystal Morin is leaving to pursue a masters in choral conducting.
The New Hampshire native grew up in Plaistow and went to Timberlane Regional High School. After high school, she went to Plymouth State University where she studied music education to teach kindergartners through 12th graders, graduating in 2011. ConVal was her first teaching job out of college and one she will always look back on as a time for great personal, musical and professional growth, she said.
Morin will soon be moving from her home of many years in Milford to Boston to study at the Conservatory at Berklee College of Music. It’s out of her comfort zone, but “It’s something that I have wanted personally for myself for a while.”
Morin doesn’t rule out teaching choral at the college or university level but said that is not why she wants to pursue her masters. “I’m still passionate about public school and I love high school,” Morin said. “I don’t necessarily think that, that the next step has to be a college or university. I think you can be really great at any level of teaching. … But maybe down the line.”
Even though she is moving to Boston, Morin said she plans to continue to be a voice instructor at Manchester Community Music School and will continue to participate in her various other New Hampshire choirs.
For her students, Morin has always been more than just a music teacher.
“She’s still so supportive but still so professional,” said Cambria Wozmak, 18, of Peterborough. She notices everything and would always check in with students who were having a bad day or going through something, she said. “She’s one of those teachers when you look backon high school, you say, ‘I had one of those teachers,’ I hope you have one of those teachers.’”
She is also a really great music teacher, Wozmak said, “She helped me really excel. I was OK with music, but I was not great. This year I made Jazz All-State, regular All-State and went to the Monadnock Valley Music Festival and all these different music festivals because of her and she’s counseled me and was like a second parent to me.”
Morin said she always strived to be more than a music teacher.
“It has always been my goal to use music to teach more than just music,” Morin said, through music, you can learn so much about yourself, but also self-confidence and personal expression. “You are developing them as a person. … I think all of my favorite teachers in my life have been people that care about you as a person. It’s actually about shaping them into the person that they want to be themselves, not just what I see in them.”