Metro East District ACE Award Recipient
Polly Reikowski
Principal, Eagan High School
Nominated by Randy Schafer and Jim Cox, choral directors, Eagan High School
———————————————–
The following ACE Award presentation was given by Randy Schafer during the annual Summer Dialogue Award and Recognition Banquet, Thursday, August 9, 2018.
———————————————–
It is my distinct pleasure to introduce you to Dr. Polly Reikowski, the Principal…the choral arts advocate…the legend at Eagan High School. Truly, she carries the moniker of arts advocate, but tonight she is ours!
It would be difficult to find an administrator in the state of Minnesota known more for their support of the arts. Jim Cox and I are proud to call her “ours”. Everytime I come back to Eagan High School after begin at another school or hearing my colleagues wishing for more support and presence from an administrator, I quietly say a prayer of thanks for Polly’s leadership.
She is one of the most proactive — with emphasis on “active” bosses we could have. She is completely invested in our students. She knows and comments on pieces we have sung in concert settings years after their performance. When I speak to her about conductors or festivals, she often knows who those people are and why they are significant to the choral arts.
We have many outstanding alumni living their passions and sharing their gifts in choral music all around the country, and I know Polly, like Jim and myself, treasures our opportunity to have witnessed them in their formative years at Eagan High School long after they are gone.
She knows her Eagan High School history! Across our district, families from multiple generations would give voice to Polly’s impact on the arts and especially the choral arts in her forty plus years serving in District 196. I know I will not find a more fierce advocate for choral music than Polly Reikowski. She’s a “Hall of Famer” for the Minnesota State High School League, the National Speech and Debate Association, and with us whenever she lights up our room with her presence.
I do want to share a thank you with her husband Bruce for sharing this wonderful spirit with us. Won’t you please join Jim Cox and I in recognizing Polly Reikowski for the ACDA-MN Metro East ACE Award.