North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
By Ruben Lowman
North Myrtle Beach’s middle and high school band teachers, Dan Vigo and Peter DiLeo, were each awarded with the Long Bay Symphony’s prestigious teacher of the year awards in front of a small but passionate group of supportive students during a brief ceremony held at the NMB High School last Tuesday evening.
Dr. Charles Evans, Long Bay Symphony’s longtime Music Director/Conductor, expressed his gratitude to the Band of Chiefs directors in honoring them for all they have contributed to the community this year and beyond.
“We really appreciate the cooperation we have with the Horry County Schools over the years,” Evans said. “And we realized that for all the educational things that we do, like the youth symphony and our musicians in the schools and other things, none of that would be possible to make any sense without all the stuff you guys are doing in the field, from the elementary level on up.”
Vigo, who is the band teacher at NMB Middle, and DiLeo, the band teacher for NMB High, have developed a close-knit community with their students and parents, and that is reflected in the overwhelming amount of support they received when it came time to nominating the best music teachers in the area.
The Long Bay Symphony introduced the 2020-21 Music Teacher of the Year awards to give students, parents and fellow teachers the chance to highlight the great work our local music teachers do by nominating them and acknowledging excellence in music education throughout the entire Grand Strand, Evans said.
“We thought it would be a nice gesture, particularly after this COVID year, to show our appreciation and we sent out a notice for nominations for outstanding music teacher of the year from the elementary, middle and high school level,” Evans explained.
The Band of Chiefs directors were chosen amongst a final list of nine nominees that included: Connie Christy (Aynor Elementary), Martha Gasque (Ocean Bay Middle), Joe Goldsmith (Black Water Middle), Chad Hammer (Ten Oaks Middle), April Troglauer (Aynor Middle), Ruth Van Sciver (Seaside Elemetary) and Stephen Williams (Carolina Forest High).
“So we got those nominations in to our committee of parents, teachers and our staff, and of course our (HCS) fine arts coordinator Scott Scrivner, and we deliberated and I’m happy to say we’re here today to present awards for both middle and high school and so North Myrtle Beach is really well-represented with a great education,” Evans said.
DiLeo and Vigo’s individual and collective impact on the North Myrtle Beach area was made clear to the committee by the multitude of community members that voiced their support for the hard work and sacrifice they have both put into their students and school during a very challenging year.
Several members of both NMB bands made the Region V Honor Band this year and deserve recognition for their achievements, as well.
From North Myrtle Beach High: Miranda Byork (SR Flute), Chris Freeman (CL Percussion), Ryan Harriger(CL Tuba), Brayden Powers (CL Bari Sax) and D’mitrySpence (CL Percussion)
Students from North Myrtle Beach Middle: Ean Bane (JR Tenor Sax – 1st Chair), Lauren Mathis (JR Flute), Kate Slapnik (JR French Horn), Kamryn Burns (JR Trumpet – 1st Chair) and Trevor Carter (JR Percussion).
