By Nicole Thomas
Joel Barron is the 2016 recipient of the Mississippi Music Educators Association (MMEA) Outstanding Young Music Educator Award. Barron, the associate choral director for the award-winning SHS Singers since 2011, was honored at the 2016 MMEA conference in Hattiesburg. The prestigious award is considered one of the highest honor for a music educator.
“The fact that I was selected from hundreds of outstanding choral directors is a huge honor for me,” said Barron, who was nominated for the award by SHS Choral Director Regina Weeks.
The award is presented annually to an outstanding young music educator who has made significant accomplishments in the classroom in the first years of his/her career.
The SHS Singers consistently earn highest marks and superior ratings at regional and state contests for their outstanding performances. Under the direction of Weeks and Barron, SHS’s choirs were awarded invitations to perform at Walt Disney World, National Youth Chorale at Carnegie Hall, and the University of Southern Mississippi Invitation Choral Conference and Concert in recent years.
The award is extra-special to Barron as this marks his final year at SHS. He’s leaving the classroom to move to Germany with his family where he will be based as a missionary.
“My five years of teaching at SHS have been some of the most amazing years of my life,” said Barron. “I have cherished every moment, and I am eternally grateful to Regina Weeks and the Yellow Jacket family for believing in me and giving me an opportunity to teach the beauty of music and to see it come alive in our students.”