Fayette high school teacher receives service award

Kelly Mayes

Kelly Mayes of Bryan Station High School (Fayette County) has received the 2017 Outstanding Service Award from the Kentucky chapter of the American String Teachers Association.

Mayes has worked five years at Bryan Station, where she is assistant orchestra director and co-leader of the StationARTS program. She also teaches 4th- and 5th-grade orchestra at Cardinal Valley Elementary School. She previously spent 11 years at Lexington Traditional Magnet School.

“Besides teaching students the technical side of learning to play an instrument, I try to instill a love of music so that students will enjoy, respect and support music and the arts for the rest of their lives,” Mayes said. “To me, music is more than just teaching students to play the notes on the page. While technique is important, I feel that students should be able to express thoughts, emotions and stories through their performance.”