Garland ISD knows that its Visual and Performing Arts success is due in large part to the highly qualified, highly dedicated and student-centered teachers leading district classrooms. But, GISD is not the only one recognizing their worth.
The Southern Methodist University music education faculty recently selected Schrade Middle School’s head choir director, Mary Anne Clark, as the Meadows School of the Arts Young Music Educator of the Year. Presented annually, this award honors a music education graduate who has taught three-eight years and has distinguished himself or herself in the field of music education.
The 2018-19 school year marks Clark’s seventh year of teaching, and she has spent all of them in GISD. In fact, Schrade has been her home her entire career. She started as the associate choir director and held that job for two years before receiving the head position. Under her leadership, Schrade’s choirs have earned consistent superior ratings at UIL concert and sight-reading evaluations and have also been recognized as some of the most outstanding middle school programs in the state of Texas.
Beyond the classroom, Clark serves as the district’s lead middle school choir director, spearheading the team that is writing the new middle school choir curriculum. She also serves as the associate director for the Apprentice Choir of the Dallas Children’s Chorus.
Clark will be recognized by SMU in February at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention. She was also awarded an Evidence of Excellence certificate by the GISD Board of Trustees Nov. 13.
“I want to say thank you for enabling music educators like myself to pursue our very best and our brightest and to always be an advocate for our students and the pursuit of the beauty,” she commented during the presentation.
Information and photo provided by Garland ISD.