The Fleurette Sweeney Fellowship was initiated in 2010 to honor Music EdVentures founding member and teacher extraordinaire, Dr. Fleurette Sweeney. In her words, the impetus behind this initiative is “the well-being of children brought about by supporting, caring, and excellently prepared teachers.” By designating a teacher as an Emerging Pioneer, we aim to foster the development of teachers who believe in, support, and share their expertise in the principles and practices of the SongWorks approach. Primarily, the Fleurette Sweeney Fellowship is designed to assist conference attendance for those teachers who are designated as Emerging Pioneers (EP) in Music Education.
Kalina Stokes
Kalina Stokes currently teaches general music and choir at Ocean Lakes Elementary School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She completed a Bachelors in Music Education with an emphasis in general music at Brigham Young University, and is currently studying to earn her Masters in Music Education from Kent State University.
While studying at BYU, she worked and taught at the Young Musicians Academy led by Emilee Knell, who introduced her to SongWorks. She completed the SongWorks Level 1 certification course at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, and the SongWorks Level 2 certification course this summer at the University of Utah. Outside of the classroom, Kalina is a perennial hobby-starter who enjoys playing the ukulele with her husband Michael, quilting, making art, crochet, reading, baking, thrifting for antiques, and playing the piano.
Kayla Buchanan
Kayla Buchanan has just completed her first year teaching Elementary music. She currently teaches 1st–5th grade at Oleson Elementary in Houston, but is excited to move to Dallas, Texas with her husband this summer. In her first year of teaching Kayla organized a brand new choir of 55 students, participated in a Music curriculum revision team for her district, became an Assistant director of the district Orff Ensemble, and planned and performed 4 school-wide programs. Kayla completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education at Brigham Young University.
While studying at BYU, she was introduced to SongWorks by multiple professors and had the pleasure of attending Emilee Knell and Betty Phillips’ session at UMEA in 2023. Since being introduced to SongWorks, Kayla has completed Level 1 and Level 2 of the SongWorks Certification courses and plans on completing the Level 3 practicum next year. Kayla has enjoyed seeing how the SongWorks principles have impacted her teaching and increased her students’ love of music. She is excited to continue collaborating with educators and implementing more “playful teaching, vibrant learning” into her classroom.
