SAINT LOUIS PARK, MN, October 04, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Sylvia Wilson with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Ms. Wilson celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Drawing inspiration from her mother, a piano teacher, organist and choir director, Ms. Wilson found success as a teacher and musician in her own right. Following her graduation from the University of Minnesota, she taught orchestra at the Anoka-Hennepin School District from 1972-1977. After taking a break to raise a family, Ms. Wilson taught orchestra, band, general music, class piano lab and choir at several schools other Twin City metropolitan school districts, bur returned to the Anoka-Hennepin School District to teach music there again until her retirement in 2012.
As an expert in her field, Ms. Wilson spent six years as a trained state orchestra mentor for the Minnesota Music Educators Association. She also served as a talent development advocate at Northdale Middle School from 2004 to 2009 and as a string judge for the Minnesota State High School League in the Twin Cities between 2004 to 2007. As a violist, Ms. Wilson performed professionally with the Lake String Quartet in Minneapolis between 1982 and 1985. During the mid-1980s, she taught music to pre-school students at West Bank School of Music, the Jewish Community Center, Groves Learning Center and for the Minneapolis Park system.
Among her most profound career achievements, was the publishing and use of her Master's thesis, A Study to Identify and Evaluate the Impact of the 1981-83 Budget Reductions on the Public School Orchestra Programs of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area, which was instrumental in saving the Anoka-Hennepin School District's orchestra & band music programs from being dissolved, as well as several other school districts around the state in subsequent years. She spoke in front of school boards several times, successfully urging them not to make cuts. Additionally, she contributed articles to various peer-reviewed journals. Ms. Wilson's Northdale Middle School Fiddle Group was chosen to perform at the 2007 National Convention of the Gifted and Talented.
Participating in various civic engagements, Ms. Wilson has especially enjoyed working with the Thursday Musical. She served as the vice president of its student section from 2012 to 2016 and then became the president from 2017 to 2021. Ms. Wilson was president of the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis for five years, beginning in 2013, where she has notably played as a violist or violinist for over five decades. A devoted Christian, Ms. Wilson was also a vacation Bible school teacher for First Baptist Church of Minneapolis from 1990 until 1994, the church's hand bell choir director between 1992 and 2000, and adult choir director 1997-2000.
Ms. Wilson studied at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Music Education with high distinction in 1972. She later returned to the university to complete a Master of Arts in Music Education in 1987. Supporting her subsequent career, Ms. Wilson has been a member of the American String Teachers Association, the Anoka Hennepin Education Association of Minnesota, and the Music Educators National Conference. She was also inducted into the honorary music fraternity, Sigma Alpha Lambda, in 1972.
Ms. Wilson received several music scholarships, and wrote and administered several grants: a Harlan Boss Foundation grant for Thursday Musical, several grants for Anoka-Hennepin District Honors Orchestra, and two state-funded Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) grants for the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis. Additionally, she was honored twice, along with the other string teachers of Anoka-Hennepin, with the Meritorious Orchestra Program Award from the Minnesota String Teachers Association. Ms. Wilson was also the recipient of a Sword of Honor, a Rose of Honor, and the national Diamond Sword of Honor from Sigma Alpha Iota, a women's music fraternity. She was also a 2-year member of the Minnesota All-State Orchestra.
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