Undoubtedly, most of us can remember a teacher who truly impacted our lives in some way. These special teachers were able to inspire us and motivate us to be the best version of ourselves, and thus they hold a special place in our hearts.

In his relatively short career as an educator, Ellis Middle School Band Director, Tim Koly, has made it his mission to help students understand their abilities to succeed, and the Hendersonville community has taken notice.

On March 24, Tim became the 2023 recipient of the Men Impacting the Community Award, and more specifically, the Education Impact Award, presented by the Hendersonville Area Chamber of Commerce and Hallmark Hyundai. 

The award acknowledges those who have provided excellent leadership in both the public and private sectors, established a record of excellence and contributions to their field, exhibited a commitment to building community and community well-being, and adhered to high ethical standards.

Although Tim has always found the idea of accepting praise or accolades a bit uncomfortable, he was very appreciative of both the award and the opportunity to attend the Men of Honor Awards Luncheon, “It was refreshing to be in a room with gentlemen who clearly are just honest, good, hardworking, and kind. I also appreciated the fact that the Chamber highlighted the demeanor of all the men in the room.”

It was a love of all things music that brought Tim to Hendersonville in August of 2011, after he earned a degree in Music Education from the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. 

A versatile musician who plays the trumpet, piano, and guitar, Tim was also writing and performing his own music. “I was playing in a band with three guys who all wanted to do music and be somewhere different. Additionally, it’s very cold in Ohio!” 

Once the band found a house to rent in Hendersonville, Tim went to work for Music and Arts, a store for band instrument sales, rentals, and lessons. It was while he was working at Music and Arts that Tim was recruited by the principal of Indian Lake Elementary to work a short contract with a special needs student from the school.

“She had heard about me and walked in with a contract. She basically recruited me on the spot while I was 22 years old and had never taught beyond subbing occasionally.”

After teaching this particular student, Tim returned to Music and Arts and took on shifts at the Hendersonville Library while still playing gigs with his band. “I was doing everything I could possibly do to meet people. At one point, someone said to me, ‘Every time I turn around, there you are.’ I thought, yes, that’s the point. No one knows me, so I need to be everywhere. That was an incredibly hard couple of years of work, but it brought me a lot of luck and a lot of good people.”

In another stroke of good fortune, a year later, Tim was asked to return to Indian Lake Elementary on faculty as their music teacher. Of those years, Tim says, “Indian Lake was truly a miracle, and there’s a piece of my heart that will remain there forever. I proposed to my wife there. Quite a few major life moments happened there, and I wouldn’t change a thing about that time.”

Speaking of Tim’s wife, Sara Koly is an accomplished educator and musician in her own right. Sara is the Orchestra Director and the Assistant Band Director for Hendersonville High School. Additionally, she’s a multi-instrumentalist and talented vocalist. When asked where they met, Tim breaks out in laughter and begins with, “This one time, at band camp…” Tim and Sara Koly met working for the Hendersonville High School Marching Band Camp in the summer of 2015.

In 2020, Tim accepted a job at Ellis Middle School as their Band Director, a position he holds to this day. “Of all the grade levels, middle school is my favorite because there is such a tremendous amount of growth, both musically and personally during those years… I know that social anxiety can be crippling at a young age, so it’s such a joy to look them in the eye and say, ‘you matter,’ and to mean it, and see that they know I mean it.”

Tim’s phenomenal success as a teacher is largely due to his teaching philosophy, which involves creating a safe space for students to try, whether they fail or succeed. “I tell them, you have the right to succeed in this room, and you have the right to fail because that’s going to happen.”

In addition to his teaching role at Ellis, Tim serves as Assistant for the Hendersonville High School Marching Band and Brass Tech for the trumpets and trombones. 

Additionally, Tim recently finished up the second week of Smart Band Camp, a project that has become a labor of love, and was the brainchild of Chris Seger, the current director of the Hendersonville High School’s Band of Gold. 

Smart Band Camp is offered to all middle school band students throughout Tennessee, and it has grown so consistently that this year the camp experienced the largest attendance on record— a whopping 180 students.

The students are not required to audition and are presented with material that is musically challenging. After attending Smart Band Camp, these students often find that they can play music they would have never thought was possible prior to camp. According to Tim, “If you can only play one note for the entire concert, we want you there. If you don’t think you’re good enough to be here, then that’s why you need to be here.”

In a field of men deserving of recognition, the Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce could not have chosen a more deserving recipient than Tim Koly for the Men Impacting the Community Award, and specifically, the Education Impact Award.

In his own words Koly says, “I’m always working. It’s a 24/7 job. I’m trying to help make this community better as much as I possibly can, in whatever way I can. I’m interested in whatever I can provide this community that gives so much back to me.”

In many ways, Tim Koly’s dedication to his students and the craft of teaching is only eclipsed by his passionate belief in the power of the word, “can,” and the mind’s ability to either limit growth or foster it. 

"You're allowed to be nervous and think you’re not good enough, but what we’re here for is to fight through that. To not care if something’s hard, to get up and try and fail, and get up and do it again. That’s absolutely what we are doing here," he says. 

“To go in there and miss every note… yet have the guts to try again. That kind of demeanor, that kind of strength— or mental fortitude— is what leaders are made of, and that is the crux of everything that I believe in as a teacher.”