Greetings from Southwest Kansas! We have had an exciting year of events for the students and music educators in our area, here are some of the highlights!
The SWKMEA mentoring day was held on September 15th via Zoom and was hosted by our district mentoring chairperson, Cory Klaker. Our board shared information regarding how to submit auditions for honor ensembles and answered several questions about teaching music in our part of the state. We had a few new teachers join us for some great networking!
District Honor Ensembles
Our November event was held on November 2, 2024 at Dodge City Middle School and featured a concert by our High School Jazz Band, Middle School Band, and Middle School Orchestra. Live auditions for the high school choir were also held that day. On December 7th, 2024, our High School Band and High School Choir performed at Dodge City High School while the High School Orchestra members performed at FHSU with the NWKMEA Orchestra. Our last event took place in a new location, the Dodge City Civic Center, on January 25th. This concert featured our Middle School and Elementary Choirs. We are extremely thankful to Jason Richins, the Dodge City music staff, and Dodge City Public Schools for being gracious hosts for all of our events! The Southwest district was extremely fortunate to welcome the following clinicians to work with our honor ensembles!
- High School Band – Shawn Knopp, Friends University
- High School Choir – Elise Peterson, Olathe South High School
- High School Orchestra – Creston Herron, University of Kansas
- High School Jazz Band – James Pisano, Wichita State University
- Middle School Band – Kyle Hopkins, McPherson College
- Middle School Choir – Ryan Beeken, Wichita State University
- Middle School Orchestra – Leonardo Rosario, Kansas Wesleyan University
- Elementary Choir – Ben Holcomb, Washburn Rural High School
Outstanding Music Educators 2025
Southwest KMEA is proud to honor the following outstanding music educators in our district!
Lynn Unruh, Cimarron
Aubrey Maneth, Great Bend
Matt Jellison, Coldwater-South Central
As the school year winds down, many of our member schools are busy with performances at League and KSHSAA Music Festivals. We know a lot of hard work goes in to prepare for these festivals, and we are extremely proud of all of the awesome music being made by the students in our area! Congratulations!!
The SWKMEA Board will have our summer board meeting at Garden City Community College on June 18th. We look forward to planning next year’s events and continuing to help music education thrive in Southwest Kansas!
