Annandale High School’s Annie Ray won the Grammys 2024 Music Educator Award.
Armed with a grammy win, Annie Ray continues her mission to ensure that everyone has access to quality music education. Often this means creating opportunities for people who haven’t traditionally received them. Ray calls this “meeting every student where they are.”
She puts a lot of innovation, care, and love into her work as orchestra director and performing arts department chair. Ray leads the Fairfax County Public Schools Parent Orchestra, where almost 200 parents are learning to play their child’s instrument, as well as the Crescendo Orchestra for students with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
While meeting Oprah and Taylor Swift at the Grammys was a highlight, she remains motivated by her symbiotic relationship with students of all kinds. “They teach me every day more than I will ever teach them,” Ray says. “They bring so much energy and joy in the classroom, which energizes and inspires me. There’s nothing like it.”
Interested in starting programs like Ray’s? Check out GivingBach.org and UnitedSound.org
This article originally appeared in the June 2024 issue.
