STATE
LEADERSHIP
ALASKA
KYLE SCHNEIDER
VACANT
President
2017-2019
Presiden-Elect
Kyle Schneider is in his 13th year of music education, and has spent the last 12 years in Alaska. Kyle attended Illinois State University, receiving his Bachelor’s in Music Education in 2007 with focuses in Vocal Performance and Ethnomusicology. Kyle currently teaches 7-8 Mixed Choir, 9-12 Concert Choir, 9-12 Swing Choir, 9-12 Guitar, and 9-12 History in Homer, AK. Kyle is an active chorister, director, actor, and soloist with Kenai Peninsula Community Choir, Kachemak Chorale, Pier One Theatre, and Kenai Peninsula Singers, an alumni of four seasons of the Midwest Institute of Opera, serves as director of music ministry at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, and maintains a small private studio. He has also served as presider, presenter, and adjudicator for various festivals and conferences. Kyle resides in Homer with his wife, Beth, and their Newfydoodle, Wrigley. He is a diehard Chicago Cubs and Chicago Blackhawks fan, and in his spare time, enjoys baking, cooking, fishing, photography, and traveling.
filled by special election
IDAHO
SIDNEY HUDSON
SERENA JENKINS CLARK
President
2021-2023
President - Elect
2023-2025
Sidney Hudson is the Director of Choirs at Sage Valley Middle School in Caldwell, ID. She received her Bachelor of Music at Boise State University, and her Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Northern Colorado. Teaching since 1983, in Colorado, Washington and Idaho, she has served 18 years at the high school level and 21 years in junior high and middle level. Sidney is still actively involved in community music, she performs with several of her colleagues in Essential Jazz, a semi-professional vocal jazz ensemble made up of 16 music educators and musicians from the Boise Valley. Her school and community choirs have toured regionally and nationally, and performed for regional and state conferences. She clinics and adjudicates locally and around the Northwest, and currently serves as President of Idaho ACDA.
Serena Jenkins Clark serves as Director of Choral Activities and Voice at the College of Southern Idaho, conducting choirs and teaching studio voice and music appreciation. She earned her M.M. from the University of Idaho and her B.A. in Vocal Performance/Music Education from Pepperdine University. Serena’s teaching career began as an elementary music specialist for the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District, later teaching choir to grades 6-12. Her students have performed at Carnegie Hall, on professional recordings, and on the Broadway stage. Serena enjoys performing, is a member of Critical Mass Vocal Artists in Boise and is well known to local audiences from solo work with the Magic Valley Symphony and musical theater roles. In addition to serving as President-elect for the Idaho Chapter of ACDA, Serena is an active member of NATS, NAfME, and NFMC. She enjoys serving as a clinician and adjudicator, particularly with middle-school choirs!
MONTANA
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ELLEN MCKENZIE
JORDAN SPICHER
President
2020-2022
President - Elect
2022-2024
A native Montanan, Ellen McKenzie earned her BME in 2001, and her MA in 2012, both from the University of Montana. She is currently in her nineteenth year of teaching music, and her seventh year at Hellgate High School, where she conducts four curricular choirs, two extra-curricular choirs, and also music directs the school musical. Previous teaching experience includes choir in Manteca, CA; K-8 music and choir in Frenchtown, MT; and choir at Flathead High School in Kalispell, MT. She has also acted as music director in musical theatre productions in California and Montana. When not making music with fabulous young people, she enjoys performing, running with her two dogs, going to Orangetheory, and spending time with her husband Peter and sons Ben and Jack.
Jordan Lee is in her first year as a choral director at Charles M. Russell High School in Great Falls. Currently, she directs the freshmen and auditioned treble choirs, the auditioned mixed choir, and the mixed chamber choir. In the past, she has experience teaching general music in a self-contained classroom, and has served as musical director for several school musicals. Jordan hails from the tiny town of Hingham, Montana. Jordan received her Bachelor’s degree from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, where she studied with Timothy Westerhaus and Darnelle Preston. She completed her student teaching with Barbara Tappa at Ferris High School in Spokane. Interacting with singers across the state is one of Jordan’s biggest passions. She firmly believes the size of your school should not determine the quality of your musical experience. Through Youth Sings, festivals, and adjudicating, Jordan feels blessed to have learned from directors and singers across Montana.
OREGON
KAREN BOHART
Danielle Warner
President
2021-2023
President - Elect
2023-2025
Karen Bohart is the Director of Choirs at Franklin High School in Portland, Oregon where she has taught since 2018. She spent 17 years of her career directing choirs at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon. Karen is currently the Oregon ACDA President Elect. In 2017 she presented at the OMEA State Conference. Her session was titled ‘Cultivating a Choral Community in a Sea of Diversity” and reflected her passion for building community within diverse student populations. In 2018, Reynolds High School’s Pro Cantorum Choir was selected to perform at the OMEA State Conference under her direction. Karen is a clinician and adjudicator for vocal solo and choral music in both Vancouver, Washington and the Portland, Oregon Metro area. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Music from the University of Oregon, and Masters in Music Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Bio Coming Soon.
WASHINGTON
BARBARA TAPPA
MONIKA TABOR
President
2021-2023
President - Elect
2023-2025
Barbara Tappa is the director of Le Donne, a community women’s choir in Spokane, WA. She retired from public school teaching in 2022. She taught for 23 years, the last 15 as the Director of Choral Music at Joel E. Ferris High School in Spokane, WA. She has directed junior and senior high school choirs in Moses Lake, Woodinville and Spokane, WA; Anaheim, CA; and Havelock, NC. She was an elementary teacher at Oslo International School in Oslo, Norway, and taught K-8 music at St. Charles Catholic School in Spokane. Barbara has been a cantor and choir director at Catholic churches in the United States, Japan and Norway. She has directed festival choirs in Washington and Montana and adjudicated Solo and Ensemble contests. In 2016 Barbara was the WMEA Washington State High School Music Educator of the Year. She is currently president of Washington American Choral Director’s Association.
Monika Tabor serves as Director of Choirs and ASB advisor for Lake Stevens High School. Formerly she worked at Gateway Middle School in Everett, and Prairie High School/Laurin Middle School in Battle Ground. Monika has a love for vocal jazz that was instilled in her by her junior high school and high school music teachers in Marysville and Lake Stevens. Teaching in public schools since 2004, she has taught vocal jazz, choral music, musical theater, general music/music history, as well as stagecraft and sound design. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Washington and teacher certification from Western Washington University. Currently, she is pursuing her Masters in Educational Leadership and Principal Certification with Eastern Washington University. Monika has served on the WA ACDA board and Washington Music Educators, and has presented at both state and regional conventions.
WYOMING
ANISSA BREE
COMING SOON
President
2021-2023
President - Elect
2023-2025
Anissa Bree is in her 22nd year of teaching vocal in Cody at the High & Middle Schools, and received her Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Wyoming. I am currently the WY ACDA President and had been working on a Masters of Music from University of Nebraska at Kearney. She has had the honor of being the guest conductor in Casper for their Middle Level Honor Choir as well as other school districts in the state of Wyoming. This past year she was invited to adjudicate at Sheridan High School and Buffalo Middle School Festivals. Music keeps her on her toes with performances in the Cody area. She keeps busy with her family of four and enjoys traveling to Colorado to visit family and friends.
Bio Coming Soon.