A La Porte County Life in the Spotlight: Mickey Stisher

A La Porte County Life in the Spotlight: Mickey Stisher

For 37 years Mickey Stisher has inspired and instructed his students to create music. In a time where other schools are losing funding for the Arts, his program has grown. It is Mickey’s dedication to a broad and hectic schedule that has granted the students of the La Porte School System so many opportunities.

“I believe strongly that we need to educate complete human beings," Mickey says. “Without the arts, you cannot do that. They have to work together, every day. They teach each other. We don’t have a bench: we are all a part of the end result. When our kids graduate, they have an entire set of skills.”

In high school, Mickey’s greatest influence was his band director, John Wilson. He knew he wanted to do for other students what his teacher had for him. He attended Ball State University to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education.

After graduating Mickey moved away from Indiana and it took a few steps to get back home. He married his wife Teri in 1979 and less than two weeks later they moved to Missouri so he could take a position of Associate Director of Band. Teri worked in insurance, which made moving around the country difficult at times.

Three years went by in Jefferson City before Mickey found another position, in Yorktown near Muncie, Indiana. He and his growing family moved there in 1982 and stayed for five years. Then he decided to go to graduate school while working. He attended Louisiana State University. He also performed as a Conducting Assistant with the Band Department, and as a Graduate Assistant for the Tiger Marching Band. Mickey and his wife remember that year in Baton Rouge as one of the best they have ever had.

Of course, there are the 28 years that they have spent in La Porte. Mickey wanted his daughters to be closer to the rest of his family, so he looked for another position in Indiana. He became Band Director for the La Porte School System in 1988.

“One of the things that drew me here,” he says, “Is the importance of the Arts to the community. There are a lot of organizations, and what I am seeing now is a coordination between them. I’d like to see more of that, a unification for the kids and for the Arts. It’s really exciting.”

Mickey knows the impact organized groups can have on the lives of his students. One of the reasons he is in so many organizations himself is because of the opportunities different groups can provide.

He has been the President of the Indiana Band Association, State Chairman for the National Band Association, and Secretary of the Association of Jazz. He has been a member of ISSMA and the Musician’s Union.

As Band Director for the La Porte School System, he has many different levels of involvement with each organization but takes part in all of them. This includes regular classes, marching band, color guard, and staying after school so that the students can hang out and socialize.

“It’s a lot of hours, a lot of overtime,” Mickey explains. “You’re a coach that coaches all seasons. My teaching has always been my priority in my life. It’s simple: [it’s for] the kids. When you see their faces and you tell them how their performance went, that’s what it’s about.”

Mickey has received a lot of recognition for his teaching skills. In 2006, he was inducted into the Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame. It is a professional fraternity that many greats, including Mickey’s high school Band Director, are a part of. In 2007, he was awarded the Chicagoland Outstanding High School Music Educator Award. It was voted on by his peers, a fact that Mickey feels adds weight to his accolade.

“Band,” he says, “In High School, is more about being in the Band than the music. The room becomes a hangout place- you have to kick the kids out because when it’s time to go home, they’re still practicing and talking. It’s not about me. It’s not my band. It’s our band.”