Who We Are
Northwest School of the Arts is a visual and performing arts magnet school, serving students who live in Mecklenburg County. For more information about our school, please visit the school website by clicking HERE.
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About Mrs. Hefner
Email: [email protected] I am very excited to start my 18th year of teaching at Northwest School of the Arts. I moved to Charlotte in 2005 to teach middle school orchestra at Piedmont and JT Williams. Under my direction, these orchestras grew from 60 to 130 students in just a few years. In addition, I have been a leader in the arts for the IB programme, worked on many collaborative performances, and have worked with the Charlotte Symphony to lead the arts team in a program titled “Interpreting History Through Art.” Since teaching at Northwest, the orchestra program has grown from 40 to 85 students in four years. We have received excellent and superior ratings at Music Performance Adjudication, taken successful trips to Disney, Universal, Nashville, LA, Grand Canyon, and maintained a fantastic relationship with the Charlotte Symphony and Charlotte Concerts. Our most recent accomplishments include performing at the 2017 NC Music Educator's Conference in Winston Salem, at Charlotte Concerts' "A Musical Showcase" in April 2018, and performing for our department's masterworks concerts including Handel's Messiah (2015), Mozart's Requiem (2017), Christopher Tin's Calling All Dawns (2019), and Dan Forrest's Jubilate Deo (2020). I received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from UNC Greensboro in 2003. After teaching both band and orchestra in my first teaching position, I discovered a love for teaching stringed instruments and the students that loved those instruments. Currently, I am thrilled to continue my journey at Northwest School of the Arts. I serve on the CMS professional development cadre to work to create meaningful professional development opportunities for CMS Orchestra teachers. I also perform as a freelance flutist, an adjudicator, and working as a clinician with orchestras, most recently with the Western NC Region Repertory Orchestra (2020). Recently, I served as a Global Music Fellow with UNC's World View program, and created a unit of study to accompany a collaborative album with the music of Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei. In the spring, I am excited to start my 4th year as the Camp Director for the ArtsPlus String Camp (Dates TBA!). Outside of teaching, I enjoy running (well, I enjoy eating delicious food without guilt, and therefore, running), yoga, visiting the mountains, spending time with my husband, Dave, and being Mommy to my two wonderful kids: Jonas, 12, and Marley, 9. |