Music Program Leaders Colloquium—Music for Good: The Intersection of Music Education and Service Learning

Are you looking for a meaningful way to showcase your music department while doing good for your community? In this colloquium, we will discuss the concept of service learning and how it can be paired with musical projects and activities. Our panel of experts will cover all levels from elementary through collegiate. What could be better than students using music for good? If your district has a service learning program, or might be interested in starting one, your students can be recognized even further for their hard work in many states. We know that music changes lives, and we hope you can join us for a unique way to do exactly that!

Meet the NAfME Council of Music Program Leaders

Duane Oakes works as the Partnership Development Coordinator for the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. He retired from the Maricopa County Community Colleges in 2022 after spending 30 years building nationally recognized service-learning and leadership programs. Duane served on the Mesa Public Schools Service-Learning advisory board from 2001-2020. In 2022 he was honored with the Faculty Emeritus Award of Distinction after his retirement. Duane is a first-generation college graduate from Mesa Community College with an Associate of Arts degree. He went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University. He was an active band and choir parent during the time his sons were in school and is a strong advocate for music education.

Jesse Ruben is a singer/songwriter living in Brooklyn, New York. Best known for his lyrical storytelling and engaging live shows, his songs have been heard on more than a dozen television shows in the U.S. and abroad. He has recorded live sessions for NPR and MTV Asia, and has been featured on CNN and in Esquire magazine. Beyond his music career, Ruben has run the NYC Marathon three times for The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation; is a co-founder of Generation Lyme, a community built to empower people facing Lyme disease; and is the founder of The We Can Project, an initiative for young students designed to help them discover their passions and give back to their communities. To date, more than 800,000 young people have participated. To promote the program, he was personally invited by Hoda Kotb to perform live on The Today Show.

Hannah E. Cole received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. She has taught all levels of band and is currently Band Director at Coventry High School (CHS). where she also serves as the Tri-M Advisor and K-12 Music Department Coordinator. Under her guidance, CHS Tri-M Chapter 6609 won the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Connecticut Chapter of the Year for the 2021-22 school year. She currently serves as the CMEA Professional Development Chair, the 2025 NAfME All Eastern Ensemble Chair, and the NAfME Music Honor Society Advisory Council Tri-Chair-Elect for the 2023-24 school year.

Kimberly Lake earned her Bachelor of Music (Music Education) from Salem College and her Master of Music (Cello Performance) from Appalachian State University. She has taught Orchestra at Swansboro Middle School since 2011, where she rebooted the Tri-M program. This group did local work within the school and community and brought students to New York City and Washington, D.C., to enhance their musical experiences. She has been honored as the Swansboro Middle School Teacher of the Year, Onslow County Schools Teacher of the Year finalist, and the North Carolina Music Educators Association Eastern Region Orchestra Teacher of the Year. She now teaches at Swansboro High School and is a member of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra.

Katrina Cox is Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education at University of Nebraska in Omaha. She began her career as the Director of Choral Activities and Drama at Centralia High School in Southern Illinois. Over the past decade, she has created and implemented a wide array of music course curricula; conducted a variety of academic, community, and church ensembles; served as a clinician for various community and festival choirs; and directed a multitude of theatrical productions. Her current research interests center on conductor, teacher, and collaborative expertise, community engagement in music, and impacts of instructional strategies on student performance outcomes. She maintains an active schedule presenting her research regionally, nationally, and internationally, and providing professional development for in-service teachers locally and nationally.

Ben Reyes serves as the Membership Manager for the National Association for Music Education and brings a varied background in music education to the NAfME staff. After serving as a high school and middle school band director in eastern North Carolina, Ben’s most recent appointment was that of Academic Advisor for the East Carolina University School of Music where he advised over 200 music majors and minors across multiple programs. Throughout his graduate studies, Ben assisted with the operations of ECU’s athletics band, including the 200+ member ECU Marching Pirates and the ECU Basketball Pep Band. In his current role, he serves as the program manager for the NAfME Collegiate program, continuing his passion for providing positive experiences to preservice music educators.

Scott Burgener is currently the Music Education Department Specialist for the Mesa Public Schools in Mesa, Arizona, overseeing the district’s K-12 music program for more than 60,000 students. Prior to his appointment to this position, he was a high school band director in Arizona for 25 years. He is a Past President of the Arizona Music Educators Association and the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association. He currently serves as the chair for the NAfME Council of Music Program Leaders. In addition to his duties in the Mesa Public Schools, he serves as the director of the Fountain Hills Community Band and has served as a guest conductor for a variety of honor bands in the Phoenix metro area.

NAfME presents this live virtual event at no charge to all as a service to the music education profession. To register, you must enter your NAfME member information or create a nonmember account. After registering, check your email for instructions. A recording of this program will be available to all registrants for one week following the live event. Members can also view archived NAfME webinars in the NAfME Academy. The views expressed are those of the presenter; they do not necessarily reflect the views of NAfME.