LHS Orchestra Director One of 10 Grammy Educator Award Finalists

LAKEWOOD, OH – Lakewood High School Orchestra Director Elizabeth Hankins today was named one of 10 national finalists from a field of 3,300 for the 2017 Music Educator Award presented by The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation. The winner of the award will be announced during GRAMMY Week in March 2017.

This is the second straight year Hankins has been considered for the Music Educator Award. In 2016, she advanced to the quarterfinalist round. The award was established to recognize current educators (kindergarten through college) who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools.

Hankins was thrilled when she received notice that she had been selected: “When I got the call, I could not believe it. I smiled. Being named a finalist for an award at this level, judged by amazing musicians from The GRAMMY's, really validates my path as a teacher. I am honored to be among such an elite group,” she said.

The Music Educator Award winner will attend the GRAMMY Awards ceremony, and receive a $10,000 honorarium. The other nine finalists will each receive a $1,000 honorarium, and the schools of all 10 finalists will receive matching grants. The finalists were announced on the morning news program, “CBS This Morning.”

Hankins has been with Lakewood City Schools for 27 years and leads a program that boasts of six orchestras plus a string quartet. She is the founder of the country’s first high school electric rock orchestra, The Lakewood Project, which plays to tens of thousands of people at their annual July 4 pre-fireworks concert at Lakewood Park. She has twice been honored with a Distinguished Music Educator Award from the Yale University School of Music (2013 & 2015), and was named Ohio String Teacher of the Year in 2002-2003, among other top honors she has received for her commitment to music education and her students.

See also:

• LHS Orchestra Director a Repeat Quarterfinalst for Grammy Educator Award
• Lakewood Project Concert to Celebrate 10th Anniversary
• The Lakewood Project Still Rockin' Ten Years Later

Photo by Alex Belisle, Faces of Lakewood