The past few weeks have been good to Carol Nelson, the band director at McCallum since 1981. She enjoyed two wonderful surprises, surprises that confirmed exactly how much people appreciate her 46 years of service to McCallum students.
On April 29, she discovered that she had become the district’s first-ever Icon Award recipient and last Friday, she learned that the Austin City Council had declared the day to be Carol Nelson Day in honor of her four decades plus of making the Mac Band one of the best music programs in Texas and beyond.
But what really makes Nelson iconic? At a first glance, you might think that it’s the band’s track record of excellence. That fact certainly came up when City Council Member Mike Siegel read the proclamation that officially turned May 23 into Carol Nelson Day.
“Carol Nelson’s dedication to excellence has fostered a culture of musical excellence, guiding students to All-State band placements, UIL State marching band finals and prestigious performances at national and international venues,” Siegel read from the official Carol Nelson Day proclamation.
There is no doubt that the band’s sustained success is worthy of celebration, but we at MacJournalism would argue that it is not the primary reason that Carol Nelson is an icon. Yes, Nelson loves music. Between her two surprises, she told the Shield that for her, conducting was like painting with sound. Watch her conduct and you’ll see it’s a perfect description of what she does and how she does it.
Making beautiful music with her students is without question a huge part of her life and her work, but it’s not the music that makes her an icon. It’s her commitment to the students who make the music. Just ask Ryan Pride, the percussion director who wrote the nomination letter that led to her winning the Icon Award.
“She so blatantly cares about everybody,” Pride said. “I do think there’s a certain level as a human: you know that somebody cares for you, so you’re naturally going to want to do the things that they are going to have you do. You trust them to help make you successful. I do think that her caring and her showing that—and it always being something that is very visible and very obvious—makes students comfortable and makes them want to succeed with her.”
Ms. Nelson revealed her boundless commitment to her students in 2016 when freshman tuba player Grace Hobratschk was diagnosed with brain cancer.
“I had expected all of my teachers to give up on me like, ‘Oh, she’s got cancer,’ or whatever,” Hobratschk said. “Ms. Nelson, I am telling you, she shows up to the hospital with a tuba. We were going to Carnegie Hall that year, and I had already paid the cost and everything for the trip, but I didn’t think I was going to go. Then she came to the band hall, and we practiced. I don’t even know how, but I was able to make it through all the music, and I was literally sitting on death’s door that day. I had to have four straps to hold the tuba in place because I was so weak, but I did it. That summer, I ended up playing at Carnegie Hall, which was two months later.”
Grace’s amazing recovery story culminated when she took the field and played with the band at her senior homecoming game. It was an exceptional moment that showed Grace’s strength and also the power of a teacher to make an impact well beyond her expertise in her discipline.
While Grace’s story is exceptional, it’s not an exception in Nelson’s life at McCallum. It is who she is. In the days after it became known that Nelson would win the Icon Award, head custodian Daniel Sena approached the Shield and asked to be interviewed.
He wanted to tell his Carol Nelson story. [maybe stop here] After suffering a stroke, Sena was in the hospital looking at a long recovery and unsure how he would be able to return to the campus as head custodian. It was a place not too different than the place Grace was in after her cancer diagnosis.
Nelson was the first faculty member to visit Sena in the hospital.
“I had a stroke, so I was in the hospital, and I wasn’t doing so good, and Ms. Nelson came to the hospital and she brought me flowers,” Sena said. “She told me, ‘I want to see you at McCallum again, not because of work or anything. I miss you, so you need to get back at McCallum.’ She has always been very nice to me. She’s very down to earth, so when I heard that she was getting that award, I said, ‘She deserves it.’ [maybe stop here] She brought me flowers in the hospital. This was when I could barely move, and I wasn’t doing so well, so I think the world of Ms. Nelson.”
For, Sena and Hobratschk and countless others, Nelson isn’t just a maker of beautiful music. She is a maker of beautiful relationships, relationships that last a lifetime and make a difference that cannot be overstated or dimmed with the passage of time. That’s why she truly is an icon.
