BECKET, Mass. — Becket Washington Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Colleen Trager has been selected as the October Teacher of the Month.

 

The Teacher of the Month series, in collaboration with Berkshire Community College, will run for the next seven months and will feature distinguished teachers nominated by community members. You can nominate a teacher here. 

 

Being a teacher is not what Trager first set out to do, originally striving to be an opera singer until a call home to care for her sick mom sent her down a new path. 

 

She obtained her bachelor's degree in performing arts at Wagner College on Staten Island, N.Y. 

 

She then went on to work for Columbia Artists Management in New York, where she organized tours and managed logistics for famous classical musicians and orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor. 

 

She worked there from 1996 until moving back to the Berkshires in 1998. She worked as an accountant for Guido's Whole Sales Office until 2007.

 

"I just knew that I wanted to do something that would impact other people and singing is wonderful, and people love to listen, but I didn't feel like it was really something that I could impact people on a daily basis," Trager said.