CSC grad gets music award

In late 2006, Hoffman was named Nebraska’s Music Educator of the Year during the fall meeting of the Nebraska Music Educators Conference in Lincoln. Last week, it was revealed that she was chosen by the Nebraska School Activities Association as the state’s recipient of its Music Educator Award for 2007.

The latest award makes Hoffman eligible for the national honor that will be announced next month.

A native of Rushville, Hoffman has taught music at Bayard ever since graduating from Chadron State in 1979. She was a charter inductee in to the CSC Music Hall of Fame in 2002.

The choral groups that Hoffman directs have consistently won top honors at festivals throughout the region and sung at many locations, including Mount Rushmore, Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Elitch’s Gardens in Denver, the Jefferson Memorial and Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Disney World in Florida and on two cruise ships.

Last Flag Day, 26 students from Bayard joined with about 5,000 other high school musicians in the nation’s capital to participate in first lady Laura Bush’s National Anthem project.

During the 2006 state convention of the Nebraska Music Educators, Bayard was recognized for having at least 65 percent of its high school students involved in music. She said 11 of her former students are members of music groups at colleges and universities this year.

Hoffman’s husband, Ron, is also a Chadron State graduate. He is in the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame.