Students and alumni music educators connect at Illinois Music Educators Association conference

Each year, North Central College students, faculty and alumni attend the Illinois Music Educators Association (IMEA) All-State Conference where they host an exhibit and attend workshops, classes, rehearsals and performances.

Some 60 North Central music education majors and 23 music education alumni—the largest turnout ever for the College—attended the 2014 conference, held Jan. 22-25 in Peoria. All the music education alumni, from class years 1996 to 2013, are currently employed as music educators.

Ramona Wis, Mimi Rolland Professor in the Fine Arts and professor and chair of music, was among the faculty who attended. “This pairing of alumni with our current students is incredibly healthy,” says Wis. “The alumni are so interested in the changes we’ve made and in meeting the current students. And, our current music education majors get a vision of what the future is like, both as a professional educator and as an alum who’s part of an ongoing North Central College family.”

After the group photo (below) was taken, says Wis, students and alumni spontaneously broke into song with the Alma Mater.