The South Central District began the new school year with an unexpected change in officers. With the resignation of our President-Elect, Melissa Grady, our Board voted to appoint Shawn Knopp as the new President-Elect. Shawn has been our Middle School Band Chair for several years. He knows the inner-workings of our board, has been a great leader in our district, and will continue to serve the South Central District membership well. Last August, our membership sent in nominations for Outstanding Music Educators for the District. Congratulations to the following teachers for being voted Outstanding Music Educators in the South Central District: Holly Taylor from Emerson Open Magnet Elementary School in Wichita, Kevin Brightup from Andover Central Middle School, and Travis Johnson from Cheney High School.

Advocacy is the big buzz word among our teachers this year. We encourage every Kansas music educator to enter into discussions and links on the NAfME and KMEA websites. We also ask all music teachers in each district to work together in compiling information for our Advocacy survey at: https://surveys.ksu.edu/TS?offeringId=179727.

Honor group performances were a priority this fall as we confirmed performers for our Elementary and Middle School groups and as High School Band, Choir, and Orchestra students prepared for District auditions. The Elementary Honor Choir Clinician for our October 29, 2011, workshop was Nick Engels, Director of Choirs at Andover Central High School. Several concerts will occur on November 5, 2011, under the direction of the following clinicians:

• Terry Crull, Director of Choral Activities at Fort Hays State University (MS Choir)
• Jared Chase, Director of Bands and Chair of the Department of Music at Bethany College (MS Band)
• Gary D. Ziek, Director of Bands and Professor of Trumpet at Emporia State University (1234A Jazz Band)
• Frederick Burrack, Director of Graduate Studies in Music at Kansas State University (56A Jazz Band)

Our December Mini-Convention will again take place at two different locations. Andover Central High School will host the High School Choirs and Maize High School will host the High School Instrumental performing groups. We look forward to working with the following clinicians on December 4, 2011:

• Matthew O. Smith, Interim Associate Director of Bands at the University of Kansas (56A Band)
• James South, Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Southwestern Oklahoma State University (1234A Band)
• Z. Randall Stroope, Director of Choral and Vocal Studies at Oklahoma State University (Mixed Choir)
• Tony Gonzalez, Director of Choirs at Norman North High School in Norman, OK (Women's Choir)
• Benjamin Cline, Assistant Professor of Cello and Bass, Director of Orchestras, and serving as Department Chair at Fort Hays State University (Orchestra)

For more information about South Central District activities, please check out our website at: http://www.sckmea.org. Have a wonderful winter.

---

2011 Outstanding Music Educators

Elementary Holly Taylor Emerson Open Magnet Elementary Wichita 21 years

Middle School Kevin Brightup Andover Central Middle School 14 years

High School Travis Johnson Cheney High School 14 years