Michele Moore Schmidt of Lawrenceville, a graduate of Westminster Choir College (WCC) of Rider University,  is the recipient of the Governor’s Recognition Award for Teacher of the Year in the East Brunswick School District. 

Schmidt, who has been teaching music at Irwin School for the past four years, will be honored at a Board of Education meeting/awards ceremony at Churchill Jr. High School on May 4.  She, along with teachers from various Middlesex County school districts, will also be recognized on May 24 at the Pines Manor in Edison.

Nominated by colleagues from school, Schmidt was singled out for various outstanding attributes, among them her effective instructional techniques and methods, her ability to establish a productive classroom climate and rapport with students and increase student achievement and her commitment to developing feelings of self-worth and love of learning in students.”

“This was definitely unexpected,” said Schmidt, who graduated from Westminster in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in music education. She is currently pursuing a Master degree in music education at Westminster. “I feel very honored to be recognized in this way by my peers.”

Schmidt enjoys many aspects of her job. She currently teaches general music and directs a fourth and fifth grade combined chorus and an a cappella choir at Irwin.  “I work with a very supportive group of teachers that take an interest is what I do,” said Schmidt.  “The students are wonderful.  I work in a school that is rich in diversity, and this makes for very interesting teaching.  I am continuously learning about my students’ cultures, their music, and their ideas.”

Committed to critical pedagogy for music education, she employs different learning styles to allow students and teacher to become unified as learners in the process.  Her musical philosophy was shaped at Westminster, where she has felt a strong sense of community when it came to making music. Schmidt carries this concept both inside and outside of her school. In addition to directing Irwin School’s Faculty Choir, for the past three years, she has been a faculty member at Westminster Conservatory, the community music school of WCC, teaching choral readiness to children ages five and six the fundamental and principles of good singing.

Over the years, Schmidt has received several grants to enhance her teaching initiatives.  One grant involved a collaboration of her fourth and fifth grade chorus with the American Boychoir Training Choir that resulted in a CD. Most recently, Schmidt has organized trips for her students to perform for residents at a local assisted living home in East Brunswick and to perform the National Anthem for the Somerset Patriot’s baseball team in Bridgewater.

Westminster  continues to be an instrumental part of  her growth, both personally and professionally. She quickly names her husband, Class of  2000 and 2001 alumnus Patrick Schmidt, assistant professor of  music education at WCC and Dr. Frank Abrahams, chairperson of music education, as having a profound impact on her teaching.  Other influential teachers are Allen Crowell, former conductor of the Westminster Singers; Rochelle Ellis, adjunct assistant professor of voice; Drs. Jay Kawarsky, and Stefan Young, professors of music composition, history and theory.

“Teachers and students teach each other yielding transformative experiences,” said Schmidt. I want my students to feel empowered through music and as musicians. I see music as a vehicle for change in how students and teachers think, react and understand themselves and others.  I want to help others see the potential music could have in their lives.”