U of I students earn top awards for music education

MOSCOW, Idaho — A University of Idaho student has received the Professional Achievement Award from the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and the U of I collegiate chapter of NAfME received the Chapter of Excellence Award for Service in April.

Alexis Gist of Veradale, Washington, is a senior at Lionel Hampton School of Music and 2023-24 president of the Idaho Collegiate NAfME chapters. She has been a tireless advocate for music education and works to connect performers and educators through opportunities to teach, perform and inspire musicians of all ages. Gist is an accomplished flautist and served as a section leader in the Vandal Marching Band. She will graduate in May.

The U of I collegiate chapter of NAfME is made up of more than 30 students from Lionel Hampton School of Music. Over a period of several weeks, they worked closely with Lapwai Middle/High School where they cleaned and inventoried school band instruments, made simple instrument repairs, labeled those that needed professional repair and organized the instruments. This service project contributed to the revival of the school’s band program which hadn't met since 2014.

“I am so very proud of our CNAfME Chapter leadership and members and their hard work in planning and executing service projects, educational opportunities, and social gatherings for our music education community,” said Lori Conlon Khan, advisor to the group and a clinical associate professor at Lionel Hampton School of Music. “These students are well on their way to becoming awesome music educators,” she said.

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Media Contact:

Kelly O’Neill
Media Relations, Department of Theatre Arts
University of Idaho
208-885-6465
koneill@uidaho.edu