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Girard Music Teacher Hits All the Right Notes with $25,000 Milken Award

Girard High School graduate Meredith Reid surprised with district's first "Oscar of Teaching" for outstanding achievement and leadership in music education

January 08, 2025

Girard, Kan. — Girard native and choral teacher Meredith Reid received the surprise of a lifetime this morning when she was presented with a Milken Educator Award at an all-school assembly at Girard High School in front of cheering students, colleagues, dignitaries and media. Hailed as the "Oscar of Teaching," the prestigious national honor created by philanthropist and education visionary Lowell Milken recognizes exceptional educators for their dedication to excellence in education and leadership. It includes an unrestricted $25,000 cash prize that the recipient may use however they choose. Milken Educator Awards Vice President Stephanie Bishop and Kansas Commissioner of Education Dr. Randy Watson presented the Award, the first-ever in Girard United School District 248 history. 

"Today we celebrate Girard's own Meredith Reid for her exceptional dedication to music education and the positive influence she brings to her students, school and community," said Bishop, who herself received the Milken Educator Award as a fine arts teacher in Virginia. "Meredith cultivates artistic excellence in everyone she supports, nurturing hearts and minds and sustaining the love and appreciation of music in the community for generations to come. With Meredith as a guide, the possibilities are limitless! We look forward to her contributions to the national Milken Educator Network." 

Reid was honored as part of the Milken Family Foundation's 2024-25 Milken Educator Awards season. The tour will honor up to 45 pioneering professionals coast to coast, marking the 3,000^th Milken Educator in the Awards' ranks and celebrating a history of changing lives in communities across America. Since the presentation of the first Awards in 1987, more than $75 million in individual cash prizes and over $145 million have been invested in the Milken Educator Award national network overall, empowering recipients to "Celebrate, Elevate, and Activate" the K-12 profession and encouraging young, capable people to consider a career in education.

"We are so pleased to see Meredith recognized for her tremendous contribution to her students and to the Girard community," said Dr. Watson. "Her work not only to restore the school’s choral music program but to achieve state and national opportunities for her students and bring that pride to her community is what excellent teaching looks like." 

More about Meredith Reid 

Revitalizing a Legacy While Inspiring Excellence: When Meredith Reid attended Girard High School as a student, the choral music program had no longer existed. When she returned to her alma mater as a teacher several years later, Reid reestablished the program which now produces an award-winning choir. They regularly perform throughout the community and compete at regional and state music events, where the group earned the "superior" rating this past school year. 

In addition, nearly all her high school soloists receive top ratings at the regional and state competitions. Reid had six students chosen for the Kansas All-State Choirs, one of only two choral programs in southeast Kansas to achieve this honor. One of her choral students was selected to join the prestigious Kansas State University Summer Choral Institute, a highly selective program that admits only 48 students across the country each year. 

In her classroom, Reid uses a positive rewards system to motivate her students to utilize good singing techniques. The system was so well-received she was asked to present the model at the Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop. For students in this rural community with little to no access to private vocal lessons, Reid opens a world of musical opportunities for her choral students. 

A Hometown Leader: Outside of GHS, Reid is an engaged member of her hometown and beyond, serving as a local officer in P.E.O., a nonprofit organization that helps women pursue education; representing GHS at a national education conference; and serving as board secretary for the American Choral Directors Association. Reid has been involved with the Kansas Music Educators Association and served as Southeast Kansas choral chair. Her commitment to music education extends to her colleagues and young music teachers in the district and region who benefit from her friendship and mentorship. Her community choir, "Generations," reflects her goals of having a sustained music program whose members serve as role models for young musicians and represent the importance of lifelong dedication to music appreciation. 

Education: A Kansas State University graduate, Reid earned a Bachelor of Music Education in 2010 and a Master of Music in 2017. 

The Milken Educator Award Reaps Lifelong Benefits 

• The $25,000 cash Award is unrestricted. Recipients have used the money in diverse ways. Some recipients have spent the funds on their children's or their own continuing education, financing dream field trips, establishing scholarships, and even adopting children.
• Honorees receive powerful mentorship opportunities for expanded leadership roles that strengthen education practice and policy. Milken Friends Forever (MFF) pairs a new recipient with a veteran Milken Educator mentor; the Expanding MFF Resource and Explorer Program fosters individual veteran Milken Educator partnerships around specific topic areas; and Activating Milken Educators promotes group collaboration in and across states to bring solutions to pressing educational needs.
• The honorees attend an all-expenses-paid Milken Educator Awards Forum in Los Angeles in April 2025, where they will network with their new colleagues as well as veteran Milken Educators and other education leaders about how to broaden their impact on K-12 education.
• Veteran Milken Educators demonstrate a wide range of leadership roles at state, national and international levels. 

The Milken Educator Award might come to a community near you! Who will be next? Join us as we surprise these remarkable individuals and celebrate their dedication to excellence in education! Follow the tour and use the #MEA3K and #MilkenAward hashtags on: Facebook (MilkenEducatorAwards)| X (Milken)| YouTube (MilkenAward)| Instagram (MilkenFamilyFdn)| LinkedIn (MilkenFamilyFdn)| TikTok (MilkenAward). 

Visit MilkenEducatorAwards.org or call the Milken Family Foundation at (310) 570-4772 for more information.

About the Milken Educator Awards: "The Future Belongs to the Educated"
The first Milken Educator Awards were presented by the Milken Family Foundation in 1987. Created by philanthropist and education visionary Lowell Milken, the Awards provide public recognition and individual financial rewards of $25,000 to K-12 teachers, principals, and specialists from around the country who are furthering excellence in education. Recipients are heralded in early to mid-career for what they have achieved and for the promise of what they will accomplish. The Milken Family Foundation celebrates more than 40 years of elevating education in America and around the world. Learn more at MFF.org.

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