Whether she is teaching one of her Willowcreek Middle School choirs or helping out at a local theatre, Natalie Franks earns her place as this week's Portage Life in the Spotlight through her love of children and the arts.
In the fall, Franks will be entering her eighth year as Choir Director and Drama Club Sponsor at Willowcreek. This will be her 11th year teaching in Portage, which includes time at Jones and Myers Elementary Schools. Outside of the district, she has also taught at Tri Junior-Senior High School and Zionsville Middle School.
Franks first realized she wanted to become a teacher during her years in 4H, where she often helped younger participants with their projects.
During this time in her life, she was also taking piano, oboe and voice lessons. Franks had been singing since she was a little girl.
"We didn't have a piano or an organ," Franks said. "My dad said, 'If I'm going to stand up here and play the guitar, you're going to stand up here and sing,' and so I started singing in church when I was very little. My aunt Donna moved to Alaska and left her piano at our house, so I started playing the piano because it was there, and you can't tell a little kid not to touch a piano."
Through music and 4H, Franks realized she could make her passions into a career, but not without the help from those around her.
"It was the teachers in my life that gave me the inspiration to be creative and to become a music teacher," Franks said. "Without them, I wouldn't be doing this."
Franks keeps in contact with many of these teachers to this day, which is common in the fine arts community.
"The network of music teachers and theatre teachers is pretty tight," Franks said. "If somebody has an issue or problem we help each other out. We lend props, we lend costumes, we lend help, wherever it's needed to help out. That's what I love about the fine arts. It's a big, wonderful, creative community."
She has now taught for 14 years after receiving her degree in music education from Ball State.
During this time, Franks has noticed that she grows from students as they learn from her.
"Every time that I get students into an all-state choir, or Circle the State With Song or to see students take a bow at the end of a production or a talent show, those are what create my memories," Franks said. "Seeing the students succeed is just fantastic."
Of course, as a teacher, Franks has also experienced those moments where she can see her students grow right before her eyes.
"Students see somebody else somewhere in another choir going, 'Well, that choir wasn't standing up straight. That's why we should stand up straight, right?'" Franks said. "When students learn and see, and they have those aha moments, the aha moments are the best ones."
Franks' most recent stand-out journey in her teaching career was mentoring four of her students as they worked toward singing at Carnegie Hall in the famous establishment's first-ever middle school honor choir on June 28.
"It was just the chance of a lifetime," Franks said. "I don't know that I'll ever have students that get to do it again, but there were 140 students from 39 states and 6 countries selected to perform in the band, orchestra and choir and four were from Portage."
In October, Franks received a letter asking her to nominate students to perform at Carnegie Hall, and she nominated 'quite a number of students,' encouraging anyone who could afford the trip to audition.
In March, four of her students came up to her during the choir's contest day to let her know they were accepted as junior finalists. The students then submitted paperwork and were recognized as finalists.
Franks helped the group memorize their six pieces during the month and a half they had their music before they were whisked off to visit Broadway and Central Park.
Although Franks was not selected as a chaperone, she and her husband, Chad Franks, took a vacation to New York to see the concert.
"I worked too hard, and the students worked too hard," Franks said. "Even though I wasn't selected as a chaperone, I felt like I should be there so my students could see a friendly face in the audience and know that I support them."
Now back in Portage after watching the concert, Franks will spend a good portion of the remainder of her summer instructing summer theatre classes at the Memorial Opera House in Valpo. The two classes, one for grades 2-5 and the other for grades 8-11, give children a chance to put on a show while learning about on- and offstage aspects of the theatre world.
Through these classes, Franks explained, children can expand the education they are receiving in their music or drama classes during the school year. It provides them with a new way to experience a traditional fine arts education.
No matter what, though, Franks believes all children should participate in the arts in some way.
"Children should participate in the arts – music, theatre, drama, dance, and visual art – because it is a creative outlet for them," Franks said. "Everyone has an artist somewhere inside of them, and the fine arts teachers really pull that out of a student. It doesn't bother me if they're doing music or theater, which are my two passions, but they should do some sort of fine art in their life, because it makes them a better person, it makes them a more creative person, and it makes them use both sides of their brains at the same time."
She added that fine arts helps memory, thought processes and creativity.
Franks herself is no stranger to the stage. In junior high and high school, she participated in 10 out of 12 possible shows. During college, she played music for the Anderson Opera Company, as well as assistant music directed "Jesus Christ Superstar" and assistant directed "Archy and Mehitabel."
Along with teaching choir, Franks also sponsors the Willowcreek Drama Club, which meets one to two times a week, culminating in the spring with either a play or musical chosen by the students. They also put on the annual Willowcreek Talent Show.
"Every job that I've had, whatever school I've been at, I've participated in theatre in some way, so when I came to Willowcreek, it became obvious that I should do drama club as well," Franks said.
In the Northwest Indiana region, she has worked with Portage Community Theatre, the Memorial Opera House, Chicago Street Theatre, Genesius Guild, Highland Parks Dunes Summer Theatre and Crown Point Community Theatre.
Her next two projects are with the Crown Point Community theatre: music and vocal directing "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," which has auditions July 17 and 18 and runs through September; and directing "Love and Shrimp," which runs through May.