At Friday’s homecoming game, more than 100 band alumni joined the school’s current band on the field to celebrate the career of Chris Lyons.
METAMOROA, Ohio — Evergreen High School band director Chris Lyons is hanging up his hat after a 34-year career, all spent at Metamora schools.
“From day one until today, these are really great kids,” Lyons said of the students. “That’s why I like teaching here.”
He currently leads more than 80 students, but the band didn’t always have that many students.
In 1991, there were only 13 students in the band, Lyons said.
“It was a cozy little bus trip,” Lyons said of leading the small band.
From a school with just a few hundred students, the band grew to more than 140 members around 2010, Lyons said.
“At one point, 45 percent of the school was (in band),” he said.
He decided to put away his whistle and baton at the end of the year.
More than 100 band alumni, young and old, joined current students on the field for Friday’s homecoming game.
Ben Gilsdorf graduated in 2006 and eventually earned a degree in music education.
“(The Lions) had a huge and profound impact on my life,” Gilsdorf said. “I watched shows like this and saw so many people involved in music.”
Current student Lissa Loesti plans to use what she learned from Lions no matter what she decides to pursue.
“I’m so happy that he pushed me to be the best player I could be and helped me learn a lot of life skills that I probably wouldn’t have learned without him,” Loesti said.
Lyons said he often hears about the impact he has on students. But for him it’s the opposite.
“I think sometimes they don’t realize that it’s affecting me,” he said. “When I look at a kid who is so bright and smart, he can do anything and yet he gives me this much time every day.”
As he finishes conducting his final homecoming game, he is happy to hear that current and past students will always remember what he taught them.
“It makes me feel like I accomplished something,” Lyons said.
The Lions will complete the remainder of the school year before passing the baton to the current assistant band director.