By MEALAND RAGLAND-HUDGINS
Rutherford County Schools
September 4, 2024
Not only is Katie Nicholson the newest band director at Siegel High School, she’s been recognized by the CMA Foundation as a top music educator.
Earlier this year, the Country Music Association Foundation named its 2024 class of Music Teachers of Excellence. Nicholson, a 2013 Siegel graduate, was shocked to find her name on the list.
“I'd heard about it a couple of years ago because some of my colleagues have won the award previously. I was like, ‘Wow, these are some really top-notch teachers and I want to emulate them,” said Nicholson, who plays clarinet and participated in color guard and served as drum major during her high school years.
The CMA Foundation created the Music Teachers of Excellence program in 2016 “to recognize educators who are having the greatest impact on their students, using the power of music as an avenue for change,” according to its website.
“I went through the process really to be able to look back on how I'm teaching and kind of grow from that. You have to record a lesson, get letters of recommendation from people, so I really just wanted to use it as a growing point. But winning it? I was very shocked,” she said.
Nicholson earned a bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University in 2018. Her first job out of college was as Brentwood High’s assistant band director, where she remained for four years before spending the two previous years at Columbia Central High.
Landing the job at Siegel High this past summer wasn’t something Nicholson thought would happen until it did.
“I wanted to become a band director because of what I got as a student. I just really wanted to come home and kind of continue the tradition here,” she said. “Not a lot of people have this opportunity to go to their alma mater and do what they love, relive the good times and then continue that for the kids here.”
The CMA Foundation’s Music Teachers of Excellence ceremony will take place Tuesday, Sept. 17 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. Winners receive a stipend of $5,000 to be evenly split between classroom and personal needs. The classroom portion of Nicholson’s stipend will be divided between Columbia Central and Siegel.
“It's a meaningful honor because there's not a lot of people who look like me in this field, so I'm going to be able to kind of pave the way, for others who want to pursue music ed,” Nicholson said. “They might be in a minority, so to show them, yes, it is possible, I’m really excited about that.”
Other RCS teachers have received the same recognition from the CMA Foundation. They are Lisa Kemp (2017), Alexis Yatuzis-Derryberry (2018), Anna Laura Williams (2019) and Garrett Doo (2023).
PHOTO: Katie Nicholson is a 2013 graduate of Siegel High School, where she serves as band director for the 2024-2025 school year. MEALAND RAGLAND-HUDGINS/Rutherford County Schools.