Countywide : 2 County Teachers in Running for Arts Prize

Two Orange County teachers are among 10 finalists for the Los Angeles Music Center’s fifth annual Bravo Awards. The awards honor two Southern California educators judged to have had “dedication in keeping the arts alive in public, private and parochial schools.”

The Orange County finalists are Shanon Fitzpatrick of Placentia, a general-classroom teacher at Morse Elementary School in the Placentia Unified School District, and Stephen Hensley of Costa Mesa, a music teacher at El Camino Real School in the Irvine Unified School District.

The other finalists were seven teachers from Los Angeles County and one teacher from Riverside County.

The 10 are competing for one of two Bravo Awards to be presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Feb. 2. One award is presented annually to an arts specialist; the other goes to a general-education teacher “who has demonstrated significant leadership and creativity in incorporating the arts into a varied curriculum.”

This year, a total of 113 teachers from six Southern California counties were nominated for the Bravo Awards, which are sponsored through the Music Center by the Jeffrey Melamed Memorial Fund.