Submitted by North Thurston Public Schools
When Nisqually Middle School choir teacher Melissa Maanao took the stage with her middle school choristers at River Ridge High School this December, she wasn’t just conducting a concert. She was honoring a legacy.
Act I: A Final Bow
The performance would serve as a grand finale for the venue that inspired Maanao’s own love for the performing arts as a student 30 years ago. A complete remodel of the performance space has just begun, slated for completion in the summer of 2027, thanks to a school bond measure approved by local voters in 2020.
“When I went to River Ridge, all of the spaces were brand-spanking new,” said Maanao, who attended River Ridge as a student beginning in 1996, just three years after the school opened. “I remember always walking into the theater and being so inspired as a kid. Everything was just beautiful and cared for.”
The impact the performance space made on Maanao is why she insisted on moving the Nisqually Middle School choir performances to the River Ridge theater when she became the director this school year. “They used to perform in the school gym, and I was like, ‘No, we’re going to perform on the stage while it’s still there,’” Maanao said. “The students need to feel the lights on their faces and need to feel what it’s like to perform in a space that was designed for the arts.”
Act II: From Student to Steward
That desire to provide a professional experience is rooted in Maanao’s own journey. As a military child, she and her family moved to Lacey from Korea when she was in 1st grade. She found her calling through the mentorship of her music teacher at Evergreen Forest Elementary School, Kerri Lynn Nichols, who eventually became her choir teacher at River Ridge High School.
“She was my hero,” Maanao said. “She was the one who told me I should study music in college, and she helped prepare me to get into the school of music at Washington State University.”
After a career as a professional musician in the cruise industry and teaching in New York, the impact Nichols made on Maanao’s life is exactly why she returned home to lead the choral program at Nisqually, where nearly one in seven students has an active-duty military parent.
“I was lucky enough to have a really good music teacher,” Maanao said. “And I always knew that I would end up coming back home and giving back to my community. For me, it means everything to give back to the place where I grew up, because it gave so much to me.”
Act III: Building the Future, One Piano at a Time
Maanao’s commitment to her students shows in her daily hustle. Since September, Maanao has pieced together a set of professional weighted-key digital pianos, thanks to some scavenging through district surplus and gathering community donations. The pianos, along with a set of six guitars, are new additions to a music learning lab used by students in her Music Exploration class.
“When students have high-quality learning resources, it holds them to a high expectation,” Maanao said. “When students feel like they are in a professional space, they know they are cared for.”
“I want my students to experience the joy of making music, whether it be through singing with others or exploring the guitar, piano, ukelele, drumming or songwriting,” Maanao said. “I want them to build confidence, celebrate creativity and see music as something they can enjoy for the rest of their life.”
As the River Ridge theater begins its transformation, Maanao is already looking toward the future. When the renovated space opens in 2027, she hopes her current students, who will be River Ridge High School students by then, will feel the same wonder and amazement she felt walking onto that stage 30 years ago.
Learn more about the River Ridge High School modernization project and other voter-supported capital projects at the River Ridge High School website.
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