Shenandoah University presented its Teacher of the Year Award to Kevin Vigil ‘04, D.M.A., fine arts educator at Heritage High School, during the Loudoun County School Board meeting on Tuesday, May 13. Dr. Vigil was honored as a passionate educator, who amazes fellow faculty members and inspires students.
Each year, Shenandoah University recognizes a Loudoun County Public Schools teacher for excellence in the specialized areas of education. The Teacher of the Year Award is sponsored by Shenandoah University’s School of Education & Human Development Office of Education Outreach, which provides courses for Loudoun County Public Schools, including Teachers for Tomorrow and initial teacher licensure and recertification courses.
Teachers recognized by this award have dedicated at least five years of service to the students of Loudoun County and are nominated by their peers and students as well as by parents, parent-teacher organizations and administrators.
Vigil was selected from a group of 21 finalists who were honored at a reception on April 24, at Rehau Inc. in Leesburg, Virginia.
Vigil joined the faculty at Heritage in 2005 and is director of the Heritage Guitar Ensemble. Prior to his position with LCPS, Vigil spent 15 years as a classical guitar teacher, performer, composer and author.
He has organized several countywide events and has brought the LCPS guitar program to international attention. Vigil organized the world premiere of “Shiki: Seasons of Japan” by Shingo Fujii, in which LCPS guitar students and faculty performed with the GRAMMY Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. He also organized the world premiere of “Cascade” by Omid Zoufonoun, which was commissioned by the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA). He is co-author of “Guitar 101,” which was published in 2008 and is used in many secondary schools as well as colleges and universities across the country.
In addition to his creativity in the classroom, Vigil works closely with the after-school ELL program, to provide an opportunity for bilingual artist guitar students to tutor beginning guitar students in their native language of Spanish. He also volunteers as the recording engineer for the Friends and Family Chamber Orchestra and is an assistant Sunday School teacher at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church (Springfield, Virginia).
Vigil earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Memphis in 1988, a Master of Music degree from Yale University in 1990 and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Shenandoah University in 2004.
