Dave Heupel, vocal music director at Greene County High School since 1999, was recently elected to the executive board of the Iowa High School Music Association.
He was elected by school superintendents across the state. The IHSMA board is composed of three school administrators, one vocal music director, one instrumental music director, and one school board member.
According to Heupel, one of the tasks of the executive board is to foster viable music programs in all sizes of schools. For example, the IHSMA recently began allowing the use of electronic accompaniments at IHSMAA small group and large group contests as a way to help small schools that struggle to find keyboard accompanists.
Heupel has been active in both the IHSMA and the Iowa Choral Directors Association (ICDA).
He was one of eight individuals on a task force last year that worked directly with the executive directors of the IHSMA, the Iowa High School Speech Association, the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union on issues ranging from student wellness to activity calendar changes.
He was chair of the 2016 ICDA summer convention and since 2015he has been ICDA’s liaison with the IHSMA board, offering suggestions and solutions for concerns of the ICDA membership.
From 2006-08 Heupel was a member of the IHSMA south central district advisory group, meeting with the executive board in an advisory role.
He was assistant to the Iowa All-State choral chairperson from 2012-17. For the ICDA, he held several positions organizing the OPUS honor choir festival. He has been an adjudicator for IHSMA contests since 2000.
“I feel honored that enough choir directors promoted me to their superintendents that I got elected to the board,” Heupel said. “This is another opportunity for professional development.”
Executive director of the IHSMA is Alan Greiner, also of Jefferson. Greiner was recognized last summer by the National Federation of State High School Associations. The IHSMA executive board attends National Federation meetings, and Heupel said he is looking forward to those.
The post will not require many days out of the school district, Heupel said.
