Toni Ugolini

Along with the many new faces this year, the school has a new choir director in Toni Ugolini. Teaching in the Lewisville ISD at Arbor Creek Middle School for the last six years, this is Ugolini’s first time teaching in a high school.

Recently, Ugolini sat down with Wingspan to discuss her goals for the choirs, and her transition.

Wingspan: How long have you been teaching?

Ugolini: “Overall, this will be year 13. So I have finished 12 full years.”

Wingspan: Why did you go into teaching choir?

Ugolini: “I always loved choir. I loved that it was a place where we work hard together, where we are a team. No matter what your individual ability level is, you can participate and be apart of a group. I’ve always loved music and so I figured going into that as a profession and giving other students the same kind of experience I had would be a really cool way to spend my life.”

Wingspan: Why did you decide to come to campus?

Ugolini: “I had done the middle school thing, I wanted to really move up to high school and see that next level. When Liberty opened, it was an awesome opportunity so I jumped at it.”

Wingspan: So far do you prefer teaching middle schoolers or high schoolers?

Ugolini: “That’s so hard to say. There are definitely pros and cons to each but I like that there’s a higher maturity level with high schoolers and that you are capable of doing some more complicated pieces.”

Wingspan: What are your goals for this year’s choir?

Ugolini: “To have a successful year of growth. My goal with the choir is that everybody is a better singer than when they walked in the room on day one and that they have a really good time. Also I want when we perform in public for people when they hear us to know we’re from Liberty, because of how professional we are and how good we sound, ‘Oh, that must be a Liberty choir!’”

Wingspan: What is your ideal environment, student wise?

Ugolini: “I’d love to have, 70 people per choir, because I think that’s just so much fun to have a huge group. So ideally that’d be that and then just having a group that is positive and works really hard.”

Wingspan: What image would you like your students to portray?

Ugolini: “I want people to leave my room looking happy. So they’re coming down the hallway, kind of singing as they leave the room, ‘They must be a choir kid!’ And I want people to recognize us by how professional we sound.”

Wingspan: Is there anything you are anxious about this year?

Ugolini: “The fact that the expectation of our choirs are going to to be higher than it was in middle school, and learning all the new repertoire.”

Wingspan: Has it been difficult moving schools?

Ugolini: “Yes, everybody does everything a little bit differently from attendance to gradebooks. I’ve gotten lost like three times, but just even the standard stuff that any freshman might be going through is about the same things that I am.”

Wingspan: What has been the biggest challenge for you so far?

Ugolini: “I mean, like how everybody does stuff differently. You think you know how to put your grades in the grade book and now it’s a completely different system. So what used to take maybe two minutes now takes you 15 or 20 minutes. It gradually will get faster but that’s been the hardest part.”

Wingspan: Outside of school what do you like doing?

Ugolini: “I like decorating cookies with royal icing and I like to watch Netflix.”