The North Central District held its annual Mini Convention Saturday, December 1 at Manhattan. The presiding chairs did an outstanding job of organizing the honor groups: Devin Burr, Band; Sean Keasling, Jazz Band; Riley Day, Orchestra; and Ryan Holmquist, Choir. Our clinicians for the day were Dr. Luke Johnson, Band; Rick Ives, Jazz Band; Dr. Ramiro Miranda, Orchestra; and Dr. Brad Vogel, Choir. Twenty-six schools were represented throughout the honor groups, and the quality of their performances was outstanding. Each year we honor our 4 year participants with a medallion to wear on the concert, and this year we had 14 students with that distinction.
I am grateful, due to generous donations at our events, that we are able to grant a $500 scholarship to a future music educator who will be attending a Kansas 4 year institution. This year, Kate Washburn from Manhattan High School is the recipient of this award. Congratulations to her, and we wish her the best in the pursuit of her music education degree at Kansas State University.
NCKMEA awards Outstanding Educator awards to one high school, middle level and elementary teacher, as well as one Outstanding Administrator award each year. We honored Stuart Roegge, band director from Concordia High School at the December event, along with Doug Minneman, assistant principal/activities director from Marysville High School. Cody Toll, orchestra director from Manhattan, will receive the middle level award January 12; and Staci Payne, elementary music teacher from Manhattan will receive her award at our Elementary Honor Choir event on February 2. We commend these teachers and administrator for their continued efforts in promoting music education in our district.
We are excited about the state of music education in the North Central District, and we are extremely proud of all of our teachers and students for their continued success. We will continue to work to bring opportunities to all of our members, and we look forward to what the future holds.
