Cowart makes move as new music teacher
When Trista Cowart moved to Cooper Elementary, she was replacing a good friend who had the opportunity to retire. She’s not planning any big changes to the school’s music pro- gram. She will be teaching every child at Cooper from kindergarten through fourth grade.
Her career combines the things she loves, music and children.
“When you combine music and children, it’s magic,” she said.
Music also helps kids relate to other subjects. When you sing the names of the 50 states, it makes learning physical, she explained. For some students, it’s a new way of connecting with the information.
She’s been teaching music for 25 years. After graduating from Dana College in Nebraska and earning a master’s degree at Arkansas State, she taught in Nebraska and then Fayetteville and for 13 years at Mary May Elementary, another school in the Bentonville District. She’s taught middle school boys’ choir and even band in Nebraska. Her husband is a music teacher and band director too.
Her master’s degree is in educational leadership. She loves teaching and isn’t in a hurry to move to administration, but she’s ready if, “God decides that window is going to open.” She likes the idea of administration because it means helping other teachers.
Her two sons, ages 14 and 11, are both in the Bentonville School District and both in band.
When they aren’t in school, the Cowarts love to travel and swim. They play a lot of board games as a family.
She was ready for a change after 13 years in the same position and she knew that Cooper was a good school, she said.