School administrator, arts advocate retires

Melvin C. Goodwyn left his job as a music teacher in 2002 to become an administrator at Woodbridge Senior High School, because he said he always loved a new challenge.

While the high school is the county's scholastic center of fine and performing arts, he admitted after he was no longer teaching choir at C.D. Hylton High School, things were always a little different.

"Working at Woodbridge was an incredible, thrilling job, I learned a lot a lot, but I can tell you from day one, I knew that it would never match what I was learning and understanding, seeing and experiencing through my teaching at Hylton and Potomac Senior High School," said Goodwyn.

The 56-year-old administrator and arts advocate retired earlier this year after 31 years of working in the Prince William County school system. While he took most of the summer off to relax at the beach with his wife of 24 years, Malinda, a group of nearly 40 former Hylton High School students, teachers and parents gathered last month to pay tribute to his career.

Rafael Cuesta, who graduated in 1998, remembered a time when after months of pestering him, Goodwyn allowed the class to perform the Hallelujah Chorus. From Cuesta's account, the song took some work.

"We practiced and we practiced and we put in extra time. Mr. Goodwyn stayed afterwards and put in more time and we were learning about the history of the song, and he would stop us right in the middle of it and say, 'That note is not right, it has to be this one,' " Cuesta said. "Finally, we are on stage performing the song and one person [in the audience] started to stand, and then another and then another. Now [Goodwyn] can't see this but he can see it in our faces, he starts to cry and the man's feet leave the ground and there is not a single person in that audience or on that stage that was not fueled by that energy."

In addition to teaching, Goodwyn has several times been recognized for excellence in the arts by Prince William County leaders, and served as president of the Virginia Choral Director's Association and the state chapter of the American Choral Director's Association.

While he was in the classroom, former student Kristina Schnack Kotlus said he had the unique ability to reach out to all students.

"To have someone who is capable of not just taking the musicians, the students who clearly will be singing the rest of their lives, but the take the ones who may not and turn them into people who seek out music … that is the mark of an excellent choir teacher and an excellent educator," said Schnack Kotlus.

Reaching his students was not always easy, as he worked many times to communicate the importance of music to his students. Many times he said he was forced to use what he called "symbols" to get them to understand.

"There were days where, yes, I did pull my glasses off a couple of times, yes, I did through my keys down, and yes, I did loosen my tie … but you knew what it meant," Goodwyn told a laughing audi-ence.

It was that passion for excellence Goodwyn's now retired colleague and former Hylton High School marching band director Dennis Brown, praised him for.

"Not only was he supreme director of all choral activities, he was chairman of the music department as well. He was our leader … he set the tone for excellence in this department that remains to this day," said Brown.

Goodwyn thanked his colleagues and the many parents who helped his choir program throughout the years. He also thanked his former students.

"It wasn't just teaching you the notes on the page, it was about making sure that you under-stood that was a part of history or a part of humanity that you needed to appreciate," said Goodwyn. "In the long run, it's not how well you do something, it's really more about how you place yourself in the scheme of things that we call life."

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.