Wendy Hartman

I have been teaching in the Boise Public Schools now for 29 years. I currently teach three orchestras at Boise High School (with approximately 120 orchestra students), the 8th grade orchestra and the 9th grade orchestra at North Junior High School (with approximately 90 orchestra students).

The Boise High School Orchestra program has been very fortunate to be able to provide the students with some incredible experiences over the last several years. In March of 1997 and again in March of 1999 the Boise High Orchestras were invited to attend the Banff International Orchestra Festival. The students had a tremendous learning experience and gave outstanding performances. The Boise High Orchestras are bi-annual attendees to the Mt. Hood Orchestra Festival in Gresham, Oregon, where they have placed with the top orchestras in the Northwest. The Boise High Chamber Orchestra took first place in the chamber orchestra division in April 1998, April 2003, March 2004 and March 2006. The Chamber Orchestra was also chosen to perform for the 1998 Idaho Music Educators Conference, the 1999 All Northwest Music Educators Conference, and the 2001 Idaho Music Educators Conference and the 2005 Northwest Music Educators Conference. The Chamber Orchestra has been invited to perform for the International Orchestra Workshops in Graz, Austria and Stavanger, Norway. They gave a performing tour in June 2005 in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria and will be traveling in the summer of 2008 to Austria and Italy. These trips provide an incredible experience and the performances have been very well received by professional musicians from all over the world. It has been a tremendous honor to be invited to perform and the students really rise to the occasion and perform well. The Chamber Orchestra was selected to perform at the American String Teachers Association National Orchestra Festival in March of 2007. There, they were selected as one of only two orchestras to receive the Superior Performance Award.

In January of 2003 I was surprised and honored to be awarded the "Idaho Music Educator of the Year". Having this presented to me by Mr. Mel Shelton, whom I greatly respect, in front of my students meant so much to me. In May of 2007 I was awarded the District III Music Educator of the Year.

As much as I love to teach, I love to be a performer as well. So in my "spare time" I play in the Syringa String Quartet. After 28 years with the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra, I resigned in the summer of 2004. Though this was a very difficult decision to come by, I have enjoyed more time with my family. This past year was a very exciting year for our family as we prepared for our daughter's wedding. My husband, Phil, and I are very proud of our two kids, Angela and Ryan. Angela, just married, will be student teaching in English this year. Ryan begins his second year at Boise State University.

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