MAGGIE GILROY
Reverb Editor
The cafeteria of Westfield Secondary School added a new addition to its decor Friday evening: a red carpet fit for a GRAMMY winner. Members of the Westfield community filled the quaint school’s cafeteria eager to greet Kent Knappenberger, recent winner of the first ever GRAMMY Music Educator of the Year award.
The smile did not stray from Knappenberger’s face as he held the glittering gramophone statue during the community reception, joining the ranks of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney in winning the coveted award.
The community reception was a way to thank and congratulate Knappenberger on the significant achievement. The cafeteria was bedecked with glitzy blue and gold decorations, in Westfield’s school colors, with many gold Gramophones accents and fictional magazine covers donning the distinguished honoree’s smiling face and trademark bushy beard.
While this was not the first ceremony held for Knappenberger, as other ceremonies were held previously in the year when he made the top 10 finalists (out of 32,000), this was the most exciting as it celebrated the actual win.
About 15 minutes into the reception, several speakers gave presentations, including Westfield Superintendent David Davison and Secondary Principal Ivana Hite. They presented a sign and banner, signed by the guests at the reception, to be placed above Knappenberger’s classroom door.
New York State Assemblyman Andrew Goodell followed, presenting Knappenberger with a certificate on behalf of Senator Catharine Young and Joe Giglio. Village of Westfield trustee David Brooker then took the podium, reflecting on Knappenberger’s life as a young student and, on behalf of the Village of Westfield, Mayor Mike Vandevelde and the Village Board of Trustees, declared Jan. 31, 2014 “Kent Knappenberger Day.”
As Knappenberger is an alumnus of SUNY Fredonia’s class of 1987 many current Fredonia faculty members attended the event including President Virginia Horvath and Director of School of Music Dr. Karl Boelter, who presented on behalf of the faculty and staff of Fredonia.
Tears welled in Knappenberger’s eyes as President Horvath announced the “Kent Knappenberger Scholarship.”
“It is a hope that once this scholarship is fully endowed that a student from Westfield in any major will come to Fredonia and have two things to help him or her: the financial assistance that comes from a scholarship and the name of Kent Knappenberger on his or her resumé as a student whose honored with his legacy,” President Horvath said of the scholarship.
A tearful Knappenberger then arrived at the podium to much applause, struggling to get through the first few words of his speech as he was clearly moved by the previous presentations.
He spoke of his love for working in a small community and addressed mentors of his own. He then recited the speech he gave at the GRAMMY awards, verbatim, while giving small comedic asides of his thoughts and feelings during the speech.
“To my wife and family, students present and former, and to my education teacher Tom Regalski, thank you for everything. To the Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation, your actions have made you true guardians of something so precious,” Knappenberger said in conclusion. “Thank you for this honor and for the privilege of allowing me to be part of what you do.”
Knappenberger then pointed out the perks of being a GRAMMY Winner.
“I’m a teacher, I look at a group of kids, I look at who’s paying attention and who’s not paying attention. And I’ve just never had the person paying attention be Ringo Starr before … He was very attentive, I’ll say that. I don’t know what he was like in school,” Knappenberger joked.
He described the experience of GRAMMY Week, which he attended with his wife and children.
“It’s so nice to hear in such a high profile foundation that they are concerned about what our kids are doing here,” Knappenberger said.
In addition to the glitz and the glamour, he spoke of some of the more unexpected experiences including receiving an e-mail from Dustin Hoffman, and subsequently having a conversation with him about education in Westfield, having his beard trend on Twitter, and receiving free gifts at a “gifting party.” He then presented his favorite gift, or swag, received: a “bacon bowl maker.”
But aside from the celebrity that a GRAMMY brings, Knappenberger did not seem to forget the reason he had received the GRAMMY in the first place.
“I told the kids today, you come to this tonight, you’re my VIPs” he said at the conclusion of his presentation, encouraging his students to come greet him.
Of those in attendance were his children, dressed like celebrities themselves and glowing with pride as they watched their dad address the crowd.
Knappenberger’s daughters reflected on the experience of attending the GRAMMY awards.
“The whole week in itself, we got to meet so many people behind the scenes, and that was crazy too,” Lucy Knappenberger, 18, reflected in an interview following the presentation. “They make it happen.”
While Amanda Knappenberger, 16, gushed about her favorite performance, Imagine Dragons, and Lucy spoke wistfully about the warm weather, it was clear that they were the most moved by their peers.
“There was also ‘GRAMMY in the Schools,’ so high-schoolers from all over the country got to audition and they were hand-picked to do the Jazz GRAMMY camp. So, they had the jazz combo band, a jazz band and a jazz choir. They do amazing work,” Lucy said.
Following the 40 minute presentation, Knappenberger’s former students cut into the four cakes, while guests signed Knappenberger’s banner, looked at his new gifts, flipped through his GRAMMY scrapbook and watched a video of his experience during GRAMMY Week.
Westfield’s success has made it clear that the size, at 700 students from grades K-12, of a school does not affect its ability for success.
“It’s a small school, and the teachers here really care about the kids,” Hite said in an interview following the reception. “They’re not an ID number, it’s the passion there and the extra mile we go for the kids, it just shows exactly what our whole mission statement is all about, is to care for the students and making sure they are ready for college and that they know they are important to us.
In addition to Westfield’s success, Knappenberger’s achievement and recognition is a testimony to the level of achievement of Fredonia’s alumni.
“It’s important for young people to build relationships with adults who are passionate about something – they serve as guides, teachers, mentors in the classroom and beyond, sometimes for years to come,” Dan Bergeren, former audio professor of Knappenberger at SUNY Fredonia and current colleague said in an e-mail interview. “My experiences at Fredonia tell me that a college that keeps its focus on this kind of long term development and relationship with students will always be successful … I’m proud to be professor emeritus of Fredonia because I’m proud of the men and women who were once my students.”
Does Knappenberger have any advice for current Fredonia students?
“Sometimes in music study we judge ourselves by how fast people play or what kind of chops they have but really, in the world, it’s not about your chops, it’s about pouring yourselves into it and I really believe that’s true for anything,” Knappenberger said in an interview during the reception. “Giving a piece of yourself away is fine, because once you get back its nuts. Like this.”