The stage is a second home for Viggo Shafer (SR, Wichita, Kan.)
Whether it’s the comedic character of the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, the crashing of timpani in the Symphonic Band or a solo in Handel’s Messiah, Shafer’s talents were well-suited for performance.
“As a child, I had a very active imagination,” he said. “I would pretend constantly. You could put me in an empty room by myself and I’d imagine a battle scene or a conversation between different characters. I’d also stand aside at recess and put an entire story together in my mind.”
Shafer participated in every band, choir or theatre performance at Andover Central High School (Kan.), and that carried over to Tabor College.
It’s where he met a supportive arts community and began his quest toward becoming a music educator.
“I wrote my teaching thesis on our shared love for the arts,” Shafer said. “Similar to sports, we all work toward that common goal and in theatre, we get to do three shows a year and four musicals in four years while we’re students. It’s a deep passion for the craft and we’re spending endless hours together in rehearsals and performances. We get to know each other on a deep level and know we’re greater together than apart.”
His ties to Tabor are familial but ironically began at a different institution.
His parents, Thomas and Myndi, and at least two other relatives sang under Greg Zielke, D.M.A. (g’79), director of choirs, at Grace University in Omaha, Neb. Shafer’s older brother, Liam (g’26), chose to sing under Zielke at Tabor and then Viggo followed a year later.
With such a personal tie to the Shafer family, Zielke has been overjoyed to have the brothers over the past four years.
“It is so rewarding to have a renewed connection, really a friendship, with former students because of having their children as students,” Zielke said. “To see former students passing their experience with music to the next generation is the best aspect of being a teacher. Being a part of their story is very gratifying.”
With his sights set on teaching after college, Shafer has been afforded opportunities to conduct band performances and choir concerts this past spring.
His fifth and final year at Tabor will be alongside his wife, Hannah (Thurston, JR, Marion, Kan.), after getting married in early June. He will complete his final semester of traditional classes in the fall and begin student teaching in spring 2027. He has been assigned to Goessel Junior/Senior High School (Kan.) for choir and possibly band.
Shafer is deeply grateful for the relationships he has formed at Tabor. Four of his closest friends, including his brother, Liam, Gage Patty (SR, Wichita, Kan.), Aden Frederick (JR, Scott City, Kan.) and Noah Basinger-Beard (SR, Peck, Kan.), were groomsmen in his wedding. He knows those ties will extend beyond his time on campus.
“There is a very high chance these guys and I will go our separate ways in the next year or two, but it won’t change our relationship at all,” Shafer said. “We’ve been forged here and that relationship isn’t going anywhere.”