Kim Watters named National Music Educator of the Year
Dr. Kim Watters, Choral Director at Gordon Central High School in Calhoun, Georgia, has been named the 2023 Music Educator of the Year by the International Barbershop Harmony Society and the National Association for Music Education.
The BHS/NAfME Music Educator of the Year award recognizes excellence in teaching, performing, and the lifelong impact music teachers make on young singers. “In partnership and collaboration with the National Association for Music Education, the Barbershop Harmony
Society presents an annual award to honor educators who give students the opportunity to learn and participate in the joy and power that music brings in uplifting the human spirit and fostering the well-being of society,” states the Barbershop Harmony Society.
The announcement came Sunday, during the send-off concert for Georgia Spirit, a BHS youth choir Dr. Watters co-directs with Marietta High School’s Lars Grevstad. “My heart bursts with gratitude to James and Barbara Moore for introducing me to the craft [of barbershop] and always being there to support us, to Clay and Becky Hine for continually teaching me and my students all the wonderful things barbershop has to offer, and to my dear friend Lars Grevstad who pours so much of his talents into our Georgia Spirit team,” wrote Dr. Watters as she reflected on the award Sunday evening.
Dr. Watters will be heading with Georgia Spirit to the National Barbershop Harmony Society Convention in Daytona Beach, Florida later this week as they compete in the NextGen Junior Chorus contest. Gordon Central High School also has a junior quartet competing at this year’s convention.