They call her VB.  As in don’t mess with VB.  Also, buckle up.  VB is about to help us soar!

VB is Kerri Van Boxel.  Mrs. Van Boxel has admirably continued the Sayville music program’s tradition of excellence since she began in 2006 and took the reins as high school band director in 2016. Earlier this fall, Van Boxel quietly became the music director, overseeing band, chorus and orchestra.

Generations of music students and their families could not be happier.  Upon learning the news, alumni musicians and their families (like mine) look back beaming with gratitude and pride on a professional who imparted valuable life lessons to our children.  Those experiences helped shape our children into unselfish, compassionate, and determined young people committed to excellence.  Our children learned another vital lesson:  when we commit to our team, anything is possible.

Van Boxel hasn’t always been VB.  Her students gave her that nickname long ago. Longer ago she was Kerri Doyle, a 1993 graduate of Sayville High School.   A gifted flutist in high school, Van Boxel attended music school and returned home to became Sayville Schools’ band director in 2006.  Many of her students have gone on to become music teachers, citing Van Boxel’s mentorship as a reason.  And in her nearly 20 years of teaching, nearly all of her students have experienced great joy, loyalty, excellence, love and support.  All while jamming with band!

When VB lifts her conductor stick, she commands your focus.  Show me your best!  Focus!  It’s our time to play great music!  You root for your mates playing their solos.  Their mastery and talent lift the wave the band rides.  The band’s collective yelp after jamming a great song is like winning a championship.  Except no one gets hurt and you just made something beautiful.  The loud applause from the audience says the same.

Van Boxel is a giant.  She’s also the picture of humility, who takes her duty seriously to help her students become better musicians and even better people.  More than anything, she is a shepherd.  Van Boxel has a well-earned reputation for making students safe, happy, healthy and successful.  And they always, always, always stay together.  All are welcome.  Each is a puzzle piece in mosaic of the band.  Everyone belongs.

Since our school was founded in 1895, Van Boxel’s great talent fits squarely into the Sayville Music Department’s reputation for excellence.  Today is just as much a golden age as any other.  Van Boxel’s appointment ensures that reputation and just may signal its brightest chapter. 

Here is just one example of the power of VB.  My daughter sat at the kitchen table eating cereal.  It was summer.  A flute player who just completed middle school, she was now entering a high school.  She was in summer band with older students.  She finished a bite.

“Dad, our band made a decision,” she explained in a serious tone.  “We’re going to help our band mate.  He has cancer.  And we decided.  We’re going to help him.” My daughter has never spoken with such conviction.  Before or since.  A perennial goofball who often walked around our house on her hands, my daughter was digging in.  It was go time for the band. 

Her bandmate was Matt.  He was a triplet. Two brothers and a sister all played in the band. That year, I witnessed one of the greatest joys of my daughter’s schooling and childhood.  Students marched in parades and played at sports games wearing T-shirts that said, “Fight for Matt!”  All year they rallied!  Their purpose wasn’t merely to perform at concerts and sports events.  They played their hearts out to save their mate’s life. 

The band put it on the line for Matt.  And guess what?  Matt didn’t just beat cancer.  That year, Matt ran to be class president and won!  How could a student body vote any other way in the face of such unbridled backing and enthusiasm?  Matt continues to thrive, graduating soon from SUNY Stony Brook with a nursing major.  He’s still pursuing his passion for sports photography at Sayville and now Stony Brook events.  His triplet brother and sister, and their loving parents, continue to thrive as well.

Even today, nearly six years later, I’m overwhelmed with pride for my daughter, our community, and for one of Sayville Schools’ greatest leaders, Kerri Van Boxel.  Is there a better way to teach students what it means to be a great teammate?   Is there a better way to help them become better humans?  There is no way to repay Van Boxel for giving my daughter—giving all of our children—such a transformative experience.

I asked my daughter and Christian Buono, a graduating senior, what makes VB so special to them.  “One of the first weeks of ninth grade,” my daughter, now a college sophomore explained,  “I told VB I was nervous to play and didn’t think I deserved to be first chair.”  Van Boxel reassured her, telling her, “You deserve to be there.”  That’s the type of person VB is.  VB is the type of person to make everyone feel like they belong and inspires her students to do the same. 

Christian Buono had a similar experience, noting how Van Boxel helped the band become their very best “through her consistent encouragement and positive attitude during class each day.”  Buono noted how Van Boxel pushed the band to compete in competitions and “place first multiple times.” “I couldn’t be more proud of the fact that I’ve been able to play in her ensembles for four years now,” Buono concluded, “and they will definitely be the part of high school that I miss the most.

Beyond things like air, water and safety, the great psychologist Maslow speaks of the human needs of love, belonging.  In her 20 years of service to Sayville High School students, Kerri Van Boxel, Sayville’s shepherd, has observed the highest professional and human standards of kindness, inclusion and hospitality.  Mrs. Van Boxel, VB, has also revealed a gift that goes far beyond meeting her students’ baseline lines.  She hits every note, in fact, in Maslow’s needs hierarchy.

I’m talking about teaching self-esteem and purpose. This is where Van Boxel transcends and shines.  She does a Wonder Woman turn to become VB.  VB demands your best.  In doing so, VB conveys unswerving confidence in her students.  This helps them find strengths they didn’t know they had.  For in being so demanding, VB pays students the ultimate respect:  she believes in them.  That helps them believe in themselves.