Tom Hassig awarded MN Choral DIrector of the Year

By Meryn Fluker, Staff Writer

Tom Hassig’s Prior Lake High School office wall is covered in
plaques.

Awards, all hanging at perfect right angles, celebrate Hassig’s
successes as both an educator and an advisor: PLHS Teacher of the
Year in 1992 and 2006; Prior Lake-Savage Area School District
Teacher of Excellence 1992-93; and PLHS Advisor of the Year for
1997.

Hassig now has a new award to hang on his wall, for Choral
Director of the Year.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” the Savage resident says about his
latest honor, which is awarded by the American Choral Directors
Association of Minnesota (ACDA-MN). “It’s humbling. It’s puzzling.
I’m still trying to figure out, ‘Why me?’ I don’t see myself or
anything I’m doing as top-shelf.”

Brian Stubbs, the president of ACDA-MN and a friend of Hassig’s
for over a decade, had no problem articulating Hassig’s top-shelf
qualities.

“I’m always amazed at how his mind is like a steel trap,” Stubbs
says. “He can pull out a date or a number and he’s always dead on,
even if it was five years ago.”

Hassig will receive the award today, Saturday, Nov. 20, at a
luncheon during the ACDA-MN’s state conference in St. Cloud. The
honor, which celebrates directors for establishing “high
performance and literature standards” and promoting “choral music
in the community” among other things, is only available to ACDA-MN
members who do not serve on the organization’s state board of
directors. Hassig recently stepped down from his stint as the
board’s secretary, rendering him eligible to win Choral Director of
the Year.