Custodian rocks out with a smile

December 15, 2009 • written by Joe Weber  
Filed under Features, Features

Some students become close to their coaches, others to their English teachers, but some prefer their custodian. With a KHS Pioneer Pride Band hat on his head and a smile on his face, Andy Nelson, KHS custodian, is greeted by student after student through hallway after hallway. Every day, kids of different grade levels and backgrounds greet Andy as a daily ritual. And as sure as a hat will be on his head, Andy will greet back with a quiet smile and a simple “how’s it going?” Though he is a fairly new custodian at KHS, his relationship with students goes back much further.
“When I first started working the day shift at Nipher several years ago,”
Nelson said, “I was really worried about how the kids would treat me.”
Nelson worked nine years as a custodian at Nipher Middle School before recently moving up to KHS at the beginning of last year.
“I started talking to him in about seventh grade,” Joe Wolf, sophomore, said. “We both play bass guitar and are crazy for metal, so I guess we just became close.”
In fact, music has become a common ground between Nelson and the students. When math homework becomes too stressful to handle, Nelson is always around to talk about Pink Floyd.
“He’s really young at heart and definitely has an interest in the kids at school,” Mike Dyer, senior, said.
Dyer has known Andy since seventh grade and has even invited him to concerts by his band Drowning the Silence. The occasional red DTS sticker can be spotted on some of Nelson’s cleaning supplies.
Nelson has been playing bass guitar since he was 11, usually listening or playing along with his father who also plays bass. He has also played along with members of the Guitar Club but admits that one just “used me to get a girl.”
Nelson’s famous purple spider web-decorated bass has made few appearances at
KHS but has made its way through several Nipher talent shows.
“In 2006, I started playing songs with other teachers in the annual talent shows,” Nelson said, “but the high school won’t let me do it here since faculty members aren’t supposed to.”
During the Social Justice Festival this year, Andy did have a chance to play with Mr. Gaither-Ganim and other young musicians from KHS.
For those who do not play an instrument, Nelson’s artwork has become another trademark and connection to students. But more than the music he plays or the art he creates, Andy Nelson acts as a friend to students and teachers alike. In an environment where AP classes and varsity sports splatter stress and anxiety into the lives of students, Andy Nelson is there to clean up the mess.