Success Academy Music Teacher Wins $15,000 Barry Manilow Music Teacher Award
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Contacts:
Ann Powell, 646-894-6407
Ann.Powell@successacademies.
Maria Amante, 332-222-6642
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Success Academy Music Teacher Wins $15,000 Barry Manilow Music Teacher Award
Laurel Stinson Was the Driving Force Behind Launching the Instrumental Music Program at Success Academy’s High School of the Liberal Arts Four Years Ago
New York, NY, Wednesday, May 31, 2023 — Laurel Stinson, the music lead teacher at Success Academy’s High School of the Liberal Arts–Manhattan (HSLA-MA), was announced as a winner of The Manilow Music Project’s 2023 Music Teacher Awards. Stinson will receive a $5,000 cash award and $10,000 in “Manilow Bucks” to purchase musical instruments for the music program.
The Manilow Music Project was founded by musical icon and native New Yorker Barry Manilow. To date, the foundation has given away over $10 million worth of funds and music instrument donations. Music instructors from each of New York’s five boroughs received nominations, and the top-vote recipient from each borough will be personally presented the award by Manilow backstage at Radio City Music Hall between May 31 and June 4.
Stinson won after receiving more votes than the other Manhattan nominees.
“It is a great honor to receive the Manilow Music Teacher Award, which helps to grow musical education programs in schools,” Stinson said. “Everyone has been so kind showing their support, and it truly couldn’t have happened without help from our school and network community.”
“Laurel Stinson is one of those teachers that students will remember for the rest of their lives,” said Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy. “Success Academy considers music, art, chess, and athletics to be co-curriculars, not extras, because they foster student engagement and their passion. HSLA-MA’s music program thrives as a result of Laurel’s dedication.”
Stinson joined Success Academy four years ago, and developed, from the ground up, HSLA–MA’s instrumental music program. HSLA–MA now has four different bands and three choirs: A Symphonic Wind band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, and Vento, as well as Mixed Choir, Chamber Chorale, and the Bel Canto Treble Chorus.
A graduate of Ithaca College, Stinson previously worked at Grand Street Campus in Brooklyn and as band director at Midwood High School. In her spare time, she plays with three separate groups: the Brooklyn Wind Symphony, Funkrust Brass Band, and the AntiMatterHorns. She also serves as the vice president of the Gotham City Music Collective and leads a community choir. Outside of music, she also enjoys golf and ceramics.
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About Success Academy
Since its founding in 2006, Success Academy has created the highest-performing public school district in New York state, and a national model of access to excellence for children across all demographics. We currently enroll over 20,000 children in our 49 elementary, middle, and high schools. The majority of Success Academy scholars are children of color from low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods, admitted through a random public lottery. Our distinctive K-12 approach, designed as a holistic thirteen-year educational trajectory, leads to student outcomes that outpace even those in affluent suburban schools. To date, 100% of SA’s graduates have been accepted to college, many to highly selective institutions. Most are the first in their families to have the opportunity for higher education. We regularly share our groundbreaking curriculum and methods with educators and school leaders across the country. By scaling excellence and reigniting the civic mission of education, Success Academy is leading a movement to reinvent public education. All children can thrive and achieve in school, in college, and in life — Success Academy students and teachers prove it every day.
For more information about Success Academy, go to successacademies.org.
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