OMTA has nominated Cindy Peterson-Peart NCTM for the 2020 MTNA Foundation Fellow Award. This award honors extraordinary service and commitment to OMTA. Learn more about the Foundation Fellow Award.
Your OMTA executive Board enthusiastically voted to name Cindy Peterson-Peart as OMTA’s 2020 MTNA Foundation Fellow Nominee. Cindy’s picture may be familiar to many of our members, as she has served as an OMTA Syllabus Adjudicator since 2013, toured each district in our state during her term as OMTA President in 2014-16, and has coordinated three OMTA conferences. Our 2018 conference was the largest undertaking yet as we partnered with Washington State MTA, and she, then president-elect Selina Manson and Jani Peterson from Washington put on a top-notch conference.
One of Cindy’s main accomplishments as OMTA President was to promote a successful campaign to do away with provisional membership. This now allows all music teachers to have the benefit of active membership in OMTA, regardless of having or not having a college degree in their past musical studies. This change has opened the door for many other teachers to both learn from OMTA, and to share their fine talents and ideas with the organization.
Cindy (with the help of Dr. Jill Timmons and Chris Engbretson) secured a $250,000 five-year grant, accessing funds donated by Nellie Tholen and administered by the Oregon Community Foundation for the purpose of promoting continuing education for piano teachers throughout the state. These funds have helped bring in world-class musicians and teachers for our annual conferences. The grant team also came up with the idea of sending presenters to all our districts, all expenses paid. Now in its fifth year, the District Projects Grant Program has inspired and aided teachers, students and communities across the state. Our Klamath Basin District was on the verge of dissolution when the grant programs gave them the revitalized energy to promote their local MTA, and they have now tripled their membership.
As state president, Cindy helped run the MTNA student performance competitions at state and division levels and continues to do so. She attended the MTNA Summits and meetings of the State Presidents (S-PAC) and was elected Chair of the S-PAC during that time. She represented Oregon very well at the national level, bringing our concerns to MTNA’s attention. In 2016 she was elected to serve as the MTNA Northwest Division Director, and she now sits on the national board for the 2018-20 term.
Cindy takes seriously the responsibilities of each office and works countless hours behind the scenes to make sure events and budgets come out perfectly. Remember that she continued to work as Portland District Treasurer (taking it through all sorts of IRS and FTC hoops) while serving as chair or co-chair for OMTA conferences, serving as State President and NW Division Director, serving as a syllabus adjudicator and running a happy and thriving studio. Energizer Bunny, take inspiration!
Her work in OMTA is a major way that Cindy encourages and helps her colleagues. She also makes herself available to meet over coffee to discuss teaching tips and share her successes and struggles. Cindy has reached out to teachers in her area through Next Door and other social media, to encourage them and to tell them about the benefits of being involved in OMTA. She is also very active in her local OFMC group, having chaired its Junior Festival event for many years. The students, families and teachers all look forward to the smoothly-run, fun festival week she organizes.
Please join your OMTA Board in supporting Cindy’s nomination as our 2020 Foundation Fellow. The MTNA Foundation provides scholarships for students and teachers throughout our organization, with over 95 percent of each donated dollar awarded in scholarship grants. The fund-raising goal for each fellow is $1,500. Funds from our OMTA Conference Raffle and donations from individual districts are already planned, but individuals are also welcome to contribute. Donations in Cindy’s name are to be sent to MTNA. Complete information about the Foundation, including the donation form, can be found at www.MTNAfoundation.org. If you choose to include a Foundation donation with your dues renewal, you may do that with your online renewal, again, indicating Cindy’s name.
If the fundraising goal is met, Cindy will be honored at the 2020 MTNA Conference in Chicago, Illinois, March 21-25. Do mark your calendars, and plan to join us celebrating Cindy Peterson-Peart as OMTA’s 2020 Foundation Fellow in Chicago next March!
Contact the Honors Committee for more information about Cindy’s efforts on behalf of OMTA.