Summit Hill Band Director Receives State Award

FRANKFORT, IL — Summit Hill Junior High School Band Director Kim Coughlin has been selected to receive the Illinois Grade School Music Association’s 2024 Cloyd Myers Memorial Award, according to a release from the district.

Coughlin, who is in her 44th year of teaching in Summit Hill School District 161, was the first full-time band director hired by the district and has spent her entire career sharing music with thousands of SHSD161 students, the District said in a release.

“Kim has impacted the lives of thousands of students who have ultimately taken their beginning talents and developed them into life-long passions,” said Summit Hill Junior High Principal Laura Goebel. “She is admirable, kind, impactful, and absolutely dedicated to her career of over 40 years. She is very well-deserving of this honorable recognition. We are so grateful for her continuous contributions to our community, and we are incredibly lucky to have her!”

“Mrs. Coughlin has had a positive influence on generations of student-musicians and their families, and her alumni that have gone on to become educators themselves call her a mentor and friend,” reads the nomination submitted by Hilda Walker Beginning Band Director Ed Fitzgerald and Wildcat/Jazz Band Director Jason Collins.

Fitzgerald knows first-hand of Coughlin’s influence. He took his first trumpet lessons with Coughlin (then known as Miss Luce) as a student at Frankfort Square School, the district said.

It is the second year in a row that a Summit Hill School District 161 teacher has received an IGSMA award. Summit Hill Junior High Music Teacher Eric Rehm, a former SHSD161 student of Coughlin’s now in his second year of teaching in the district, received IGSMA’s 2023 Barbara Buehlman Young Conductor Award.

“I am blessed to say I am one of the countless students whose life has been changed from having her as a teacher,” said Rehm. “Kim Coughlin is an example to us all of what it means to be a selfless, loving educator, and I cannot think of anyone more deserving of the IGSMA Cloyd Myers Award!”

“I am humbled and honored to be recognized for what I do, and it’s encouraging to know that it has value and really makes a difference,” said Coughlin, who earned her bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Northern Illinois University, and started the district’s band program as her first job out of college. “You don't do things for awards, but it's really nice to be rewarded for all the hard work that you put in.”

Coughlin was recognized at the 86th annual IGSMA State Meeting on Sept. 22.

The Cloyd Myers Memorial Award is given to a person who has demonstrated educational excellence in IGSMA activities, according to the district. Requirements include being a director whose students consistently excel in IGSMA events; an adjudicator who consistently produces excellent comments and suggestions for improvement; and an executive board member who consistently fulfills his or her duties and strives for IGSMA organizational improvement.