Niki Weidner Awarded State's Annual Teacher Scholarship

We are thrilled to share that our district's own Niki Weidner has been awarded the 2023 OMTA Teacher Scholarship! Read more about her below:

"Niki is a native of Cincinnati who grew up around many entrepreneurs and has loved working with kids since she was a kid. She loved helping out with VBS at her church, started babysitting at age 11 and built up a client base of over 20 families by the time she graduated high school, and founded and directed her church's first interpretive dance team during high school with adorable K-6th grade girls. It was from all these experiences that she fell in love working with kids and wanted to be a leader and entrepreneur revolving around them. Being heavily involved in music AND dance up through high school, she just couldn't decide between being dance or music!

After high school, Niki earned her BS in Psychology and Music at Indiana Wesleyan University and M.Ed. at Liberty University, followed by gaining music teaching experience at a local music studio. She opened Evergreen Music School (formerly NW Music Studio) in 2020, with her branding inspired by her school's casual-feeling, exploratory environment.

Niki is currently the owner and instructor of the multi-award-winning Evergreen Music School in Montgomery, OH, and the Vice President of Communications for OhioMTA Southwest. She is a multi-instrumentalist and is proficient on 12 instruments, with her strongest being piano, guitar, and trombone. She maintains a high involvement in local music making with Wyoming Winds, Norwood Church, cello lessons with Kat Aguiar, and occasional accompanying and soloing gigs around Cincinnati.

Niki is most passionate about neurodiversity and creating an innovative, inclusive, and 100% hands-on lessons environment and curriculum for all her students. As a result, Niki plans to use these scholarship funds to pursue further training in neurodiversity and mental health through the IBCCES organization, eventually earning her Board Certified Cognitive Specialist (BCCS) credential."

Congratulations Niki on this special honor!