A Message from the President | University of Colorado

Marching to her own dream, UCD alumna Tana Knopf inspires youth to pursue theirs

Did you have Mrs. Knopf?

September 2005 to June 2011: Denver School of the Arts
September 1989 to June 2005: Denver North High School
September 1985 to June 1989: Lake Middle School
September 1974 to June 1985: Asbury, Columbine, Emerson, Harrington, Moore, Stevens, Whittier and Wyman Elementary Schools, beginning, intermediate and advanced bands, beginning, intermediate and advanced strings.
February 1974-June 1974: Manual High School

Accolades:

1992; 2002 NORAC: North High School Teacher of the Year
2000-2001, 02-03, 04-05: Girls golf coach of the year for DPS
2001-02: North High School Coach of the Year
2002-03: Who's Who Among American Women
2007-08: Denver Teachers' Awards Distinguished Teacher Nominee
2008: Denver No. 17 Elks Lodge Teacher of the Year

Tana Knopf never believed in walking backward or, for that matter, standing still. It's a belief she instilled in hundreds of students – many of whom were at-risk youth – as band instructor and counselor at Denver Public Schools (DPS). "We have to walk forward. It doesn't matter how big the step, we always have to walk forward," Knopf told her students. "And a lot of them did."

Knopf, an alumna of the University of Colorado Denver School of Education and Human Development, was the first female high school band teacher at DPS, a no-nonsense counselor and an award-winning girls' golf instructor in her 37 years at DPS before retiring last summer. "I broke down a lot of barriers, quietly or sometimes not so quietly," she said.

Her students ranged from valedictorians – some of whom went on to win Boettcher Scholarship honors or to graduate from Princeton – to the ones "you pray that they pass so they can graduate."

"My students know how important education is to me and many of them have gone into colleges and universities to achieve their goals. We were a family. Not clarinets, flutes or trumpets, we were a family," she said. "We have to mold together, we have to grow together. Everybody was in tune."

DPS has a high percent of at-risk students, with a 56.1 percent graduation rate for the class of 2011. Although many of Knopf's students had felt underprivileged or underrepresented when they entered her classroom, most felt differently when they left.

"A lot of kids in school have problems and they have issues. Sometimes they just want to be isolated. They don't want to participate; they don't want anybody to know about it. I think that's why my program was so successful because everybody was on an equal playing field. The last-chair person was just as important as the first-chair person," she said. "The music in some ways helped them socialize, to not be afraid to take that next step."

Knopf knows full well about life challenges and has learned to overcome them. She underwent surgery when she was a day old and her parents were told she'd likely never walk. Yet, she walks just fine. But that's not all: "I was very dyslexic from the time that I could even start to read. I had a very difficult time in school. Thank goodness for my parents; they worked really hard with me," she said.

Music was the thread that kept her balanced and helped her to learn and grow. "With music, I got to do the one-note association – I see the note; I play the note. It helped me to develop my reading skills and it helped me to develop a lot of things."

Her parents supported her every step of the way and, when it came time to create a successful marching band program at North High School, her family did, too.

"Back in the Stone Age – fall of 1989 – I was hired as the first female band director in DPS. It was a big discussion, 'Are you sure you can do this? Are you sure you want to do this?' But I really wanted to prove a woman could be a high school band teacher and be successful," she said. "It involved a lot: You're not home a lot. I had to check with my husband and my own children and they were very excited, very supportive."

In addition to their support, Knopf's twins followed in her footsteps. Her son, Dan, earned his bachelor of arts degree from Julliard and his master's from Yale. He is the band teacher at Highlands Ranch. Chandra, Knopf's daughter, graduated from the University of Denver.

North already had a strong music program, Knopf said, but the marching band had to be built from the ground up. Knopf's students marched in parades such as the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Parade of Lights and the National Western Stock Show Parade.

Knopf had always recognized the importance of keeping her students – and herself – in step, having marched herself right back to college and earning her master's degree in education and guidance counseling from CU Denver in 1983.

"It was a well-rounded program, it wasn't specifically one program where they give you a diploma and send you out the door. It had a lot of interaction, a lot of involvement," she said. "I got to do some counseling practicum with adults as well as with kids. And that was really good to prepare me.

"Now, some programs give the kids the diploma and send them out and they expect the school district or other places to supplement that, and it's not happening. That's not fair to the student," she said. "At CU Denver, they not only prepare you, they check on you. It was important for me – because of my background and my dyslexia and because of my different things – to have somebody to help support me. That's why I was able to make it through as a good teacher, because I always had good support and the University of Colorado Denver provided that."

One of the people from CU Denver who has kept in touch with Knopf is her former professor, Ellen Stevens, director of the Center for Faculty Development. "Tana personifies the best that is possible for an educator to be," Stevens said. "She was an amazing instrumental music teacher and a walk-on-water school counselor."

Knopf humbly denies it. "I sink," she quips. "I tread water an awful lot. Every day you go to work you don't get that 'you did a great job,' so you have to take your hand and pat yourself and say what a great job you did."

Knopf began her career as an instrumental music teacher in 1974 and ended it as a counselor at Denver School of the Arts. "I thought that might be kind of rough to be the counselor after being a band teacher, but it balanced out really good. I did like the counseling."

And now, Knopf is quick to say she likes the retirement. "Retirement after 37 years is, like, totally awesome," she said. "The alarm clock, it doesn't ring that often."

That's not to say she's not staying active. Knopf exercises every day, golfs and enjoys hanging with her husband, the children, the grandchildren and the new puppy. She keeps busy volunteering at her son's band program at Highlands Ranch and delights in bumping into her former students.

"I had great students who were absolutely amazing. I helped them, but they helped me every day want to be there and to help them," she said. "We did share a lot and it was a wonderful thing, but [in class] I was in charge. After that, I was theirs. I was like that aunt that you can talk to but you also show great signs of respect."

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