2022 RECIPIENTS
MUSIC TEACHER OF THE YEAR
SARAH WEHMEIER APARICIO
Director of Bands, Waukesha South High School
Waukesha School District
Sarah Wehmeier Aparicio began her teaching career in the Wauwatosa School District, but she has called the School District of Waukesha her professional home for 24 of her 26 years. During her tenure in Waukesha, Sarah has taught at many of the elementary schools, all three traditional middle schools, and South High School. Sarah is currently the Director of Bands at Waukesha South High School and also works with the bands at Horning Middle School.
Sarah holds a Bachelor of Music from UW-Whitewater, a Masters in Educational Leadership from Marian University, and she is a thesis short of a Masters in Education (Professional Development) from Alverno College. She has also studied Spanish in Guatemala and El Salvador. Sarah has done graduate level fieldwork teaching music and performing in Russell, New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; and Siena, Italy. Ms. Wehmeier spent a school year teaching music in Finland as a Fulbright teacher recipient.
Sarah is an active member at Ascension Lutheran Church where she plays piano and leads music for Latino ministry. Through her church, Sarah is the leader of partnerships in El Salvador and Tanzania. In the summers, she performs on horn with the Waukesha Civic Band. Sarah and her husband Edwin are the parents to daughters Marta and Luisa.
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC INSTRUCTION
TIM MCCARTHY
Director of Bands, Glen Hills Middle School
Glendale-River Hills School District
Tim McCarthy is in his 36th year as band director at Glen Hills Middle School in Glendale. He works with students in 4th - 8th grade. He directs full bands at each grade level and leads the Jazz Lab and Jazz Ensemble. He especially enjoys inspiring and guiding young musicians as they begin their instrumental music experience. Many GHMS alumni have continued to enrich their lives with music by playing in community bands and church groups, and others enjoy successful careers as music educators, composers, and professional musicians.
Tim and his Nicolet-area colleagues collaborate on numerous events in the North Shore; Massed Pep Band performances, Band-O-Rama events, combined concerts, and touring concerts for area schools. Over the years, he has worked closely with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Arts in Community Education (ACE) Program. His students have benefited from their time with composer partner Ron Foster, learning to compose and then perform their pieces. He has been fortunate to work with the Skylight Opera Company and their education outreach program. Tim’s students have participated in Woody Herman Jazz Festivals, the Summerfest Band Camps and WSMA Solo & Ensemble Festivals. Tim’s annual “Glen Hills Recital Night” offers young musicians the opportunity to hone their preparation and performance skills in a comfortable, familiar setting.
Tim has played saxophone with the Milwaukee Concert Band and has performed as a church musician as a soloist and in various ensembles. He has served as a clinician and private saxophone teacher. He also enjoys coaching 7th grade boys’ volleyball, 7th grade girls’ basketball, and middle school track. Tim and his wife Lyn live in Mequon and they have two daughters, Sarah, who is in graduate school at the University of Minnesota and Katie, a senior at Macalester College.
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
CHORAL MUSIC INSTRUCTION
MILENA WALKER
Choir and Theater Director, Riverside University High School,
Milwaukee Public Schools
Milena Walker has been a choir teacher for 34 years, teaching thousands of students to love to sing and enjoy a lifetime of music, both personally and professionally. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she worked for a few years at Slinger High School and as an MPS Traveling Music Teacher. She took over the choral program at Riverside University High School in 1994 and is still serving as the head of the department. In her many years of teaching, she has taught choir, voice lessons, piano, music history, AP music, and more. Currently her students participate in three to four concerts a year, in WSMA district and state competitions, Multicultural programs, Biennial Festival, Arts Connect, and more. Mrs. Walker’s students are regularly invited to participate in clinics held by performers at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts and have appeared on local news programs many times.
As long as she has been teaching, she has also been the school’s theater director. Since her production of Funny Girl her first year of teaching at Slinger HS she has served as not only director but also choreographer and vocal coach for 32 musicals and 8 plays/madrigal dinners. Her first year at Riverside, her production of Guys and Dolls won the Milwaukee County High School Musical Theater Festival, and they were given the honor of performing the show at the Pabst Theater. She has also directed the All City Honors Choir and All City Swing Choir. On multiple occasions , her own Swing Choir has competed all over Wisconsin, at Disney World, and performed on Carnival Cruise Ships. These trips were about much more than the music. She and her students fundraised year in and year out to cover the cost – often totaling over $30,000 for each and every trip. Most students had never been outside of Milwaukee.
Before having her own children, she performed with the Milwaukee Opera (where she met her husband), the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus and was a member of the Florentine Opera Chorus for 12 years. In recent years, she directed church choirs, conducted national festival performances, and led choral workshops for both the Serbian Orthodox Church of America and the Serbian Singing Federation.
Teaching music has been her joy and she has enjoyed the success and learning process for all of her students. She has help from many talented individuals. She thanks her husband Fred Walker, Operatic Tenor and voice teacher extraordinaire; her children Natalija and Alex, exceptional Coloratura and Tenor; her right-hand Jennifer, many, many fellow teachers, administrators, current and former students. Finally, thank you to the Civic Music Association for this award and for her first award - the High School Civic Music Award in 1982.
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
GENERAL MUSIC INSTRUCTION
JULIO PABON
Music Teacher, Hawthorne Elementary School
Waukesha School District
Julio Pabon is a multi-discipline artist with an emphasis in Caribbean, West African, and Brazilian percussion, instrument building, painting, and woodcarving. He has been practicing and performing the Afro-Brazilian martial-art dance of Capoeira since 1998 and feels honored to have performed it with his son Javier in Ed Burgess’ and Danceworks’ production A Guy Thing in 2009. He also appeared in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of Spinning into Butter. He performs music regularly with the Milwaukee based Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz group De La Buena and Panadanza Dance Company.
Julio has been active with Arts programs around the Milwaukee area including Milwaukee Public Theatre, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Danceworks, COA-Riverwest, and Walker’s Point Center for the Arts. He currently teaches General Music in Waukesha at Hawthorne Elementary. He is Co-Director, alongside Bony Benavides, of Samba da Vida MKE, an all-ages Afro-Brazilian percussion community group affiliated with Grooversity Network, a worldwide network of over 40 samba schools lead by Master percussionist Marcus Santos.
Julio received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Inter-Arts and Post-Baccalaureate Certification in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is trained in Orff-Schulwerk music education, and Modern Band method from Little Kids Rock. He received the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Teacher Fellowship Award in 2007 and the Artist and Community Collaborations Grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board in 2011 and 2004.
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
STUDIO MUSIC INSTRUCTION
ERIC JACOBSON
Trumpet Instructor, Professional Musician,
Education Director, Milwaukee Jazz Institute
Eric Jacobson has been teaching private instruction for trumpet and performing since 1998. "Eric is the real deal! - a truly world-class jazz trumpeter with a gift to inspire, motivate and teach students of all ages with dramatic results. By sharing his own passion for the music with his students, he instills that "fire in the belly" that makes great musicians; and in instilling a love of practice and a robust work ethic, he equips his students with the tools to excel for a lifetime. And most importantly, he provides a compelling example of excellence for his students by his own brilliant playing. The word is out in the jazz world about the accomplishment of Eric Jacobson as both player and educator, and he's making that world a better place with his great work!” - Brian Lynch Grammy© Award-Winning Trumpeter.
As a performer, teacher, and clinician Eric Jacobson is in high demand and has been gaining a national reputation through his trumpet playing and as a jazz educator. Eric has performed with Grammy© Award Winners Phil Woods, Benny Golson, Brian Lynch, Tito Puente Jr., and Eric Benet. As a Music Major he studied Trumpet at UW-Whitewater from 1993-1997 with Dr. Frank Hanson, and Grammy Award winner Jazz Director Steve Wiest.
Eric is a top call trumpeter for high-profile gigs in Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago. Eric performs in the windy city at the Green Mill, Jazz Showcase, Winter’s Jazz Club, and Andy's Jazz Club with some of the top Chicago groups such as The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Chicago Yestet, Bakerzmillion, and Mark Colby’s Quintet. Eric has also been busy in the recording studio with his latest CD released under Grammy Award winner Brian Lynch's jazz label Holistic MusicWorks. In 2019 and 2021, Eric toured the east cost leading his own group in D.C., Philly, and New York featuring world-class musicians Bruce Barth and John Swana.
EMERGING MUSIC EDUCATOR
MEAGHAN HEINRICH
Music Teacher, Neeskara Elementary School & Emerson Elementary School, Milwaukee Public Schools
Meaghan Heinrich is a proud Milwaukee Public Schools Music Educator to 600 amazing students at Neeskara and Emerson Elementary Schools. She is a frequent collaborator for education and community initiatives with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and has been a guest presenter for the President’s Own Marine Band, U.S. Air Force Band, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Music Academy of the West, and numerous other arts organizations around the country. She spends her summers as Education Curator for the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as well as Oboist and Lecturer for the Washington Island Music Festival in Door County.
Ms. Heinrich holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Master’s degree from Rice University, both in oboe performance, and is currently pursuing a Post-Baccalaureate Certification in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has previously held positions on the education staff of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra and spent four years touring nationally with the multi-disciplinary ensemble Tales & Scales. She enjoys making music with family and friends, running along the shores of Lake Michigan, sipping Milwaukee’s finest coffee and cocktails, and constantly trying new things – most recently indoor rock climbing and swing dancing.