January 6, 2005

Music senior receives Lincoln Laureate Award

Jamie Elise Howe accepts the 2004 Student Laureate Award.

Jamie Elise Howe, a senior majoring in music education, has received the Student Laureate Award for 2004 from the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.

Howe has maintained a nearly perfect grade point average during her four undergraduate years.

The Student Laureate Award recognizes outstanding seniors from each of the four-year degree-granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois. Student Laureates are honored for excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities.

The Student Laureate Medallion is given each year, along with a $150 honorarium and a certificate of achievement to each winner. This year, 51 students were honored in a ceremony in the Hall of Representatives, Old State Capitol, in Springfield.

Peter Webster, John Beattie Professor and associate dean of academic affairs for the School of Music, and Maud Hickey, assistant professor of music education and technology, nominated Howe for the award because of her two-year internship in Northwestern’s “Partnerships Through the Arts” (PTA) program which is part of the University’s music education program.

As a PTA intern, Howe worked with both artists and Chicago Public School teachers to create interesting lessons for students. She arranged for Northwestern’s Purple Haze, a student-run a cappella group with which she sings and was co-music director for two years, to perform at a Chicago Public School for an audience of 400 children aged 10 through 14, and she also led a workshop for selected students after the performance.

Howe, a voice student and an accomplished pianist, was one of the leaders who revived the formerly small and inactive Music Educators National Conference (MENC) student chapter and transformed it into a vibrant student community for all students who are interested in teaching and learning.

The organization they founded is now called the Music Learning Community and encompasses the student chapters of MENC, American String Teachers Association and American Choral Directors Association.