Second award for NM teacher Nickels-Hircock

By Ryan Boetel The Daily Times

FARMINGTON, NM — A local music teacher was recognized, again,
for her work with high school singers.

Virginia Nickels-Hircock, the director of choral activities at
Piedra Vista High School, was awarded the New Mexico Outstanding
Music Educator of the Year Award by the National Federation of High
Schools.

The announcement came during a conference Friday where the New
Mexico Music Educators Association was honoring Nickels-Hircock
with an award for being the best music teacher in New Mexico.

The high school federation annually selects an outstanding music
educator from each state. State winners can be chosen for sectional
awards and a national award.

“Virginia (Nickels-Hircock) is a very inspiring musician and
teacher,” said Dustin Seifert, the former president of the New
Mexico Music Education Associations. “Not only do her groups
perform at an incredible high level, but she creates significant
and lasting relationship with her students.”

A goal of the state’s music educators association is to bolster
students’ interest in music beyond high school, Seifert said.

Piedra Vista students display a strong interest in choir. More
than 10 percent of the student body is in one of three choir groups
Nickels-Hircock directs. And a combination of singers in the two
most advanced choir groups at the high school combined to form a
group called the Pipes, which was awarded as the best choir in the
state in 2010.