Northwood High principal receives county honors for outstanding arts education

Northwood High School Principal Leslie Roach earned double honors this week at the 2014 Orange County Music and Arts Educators Awards.

In addition to being named one of 43 Outstanding Arts Educators at Wednesday's special ceremony in Costa Mesa, Roach was presented with a Music and Arts Award, recognizing her contributions as one of the county’s top arts administrators. Both are fitting honors for a principal whose campus has received a sleu of recent arts accolades. Last year, Northwood was among 13 recipients of the state’s new Exemplary Arts Program Award just weeks after being announced as a California Distinguished School. In addition, Choir Director Zach Halop was named a quarterfinalist for the national Music Educator Award presented by The Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation. And Northwood was selected in March as a Grammy Signature School for the second straight year -- and the fifth time since 1999. "It is always nice to be recognized as a representative of the many hours and hard work that all educators put into making schools run effectively and efficiently," said Roach, who's pictured above with Dr. Jeff Hittenberger, chief academic officer for the Orange County Department of Education. "Northwood High School is lucky that there was a strong foundation of visual and performing arts education built into the fabric of the school," she added, "and I have been lucky enough to be part of helping support this strong tradition."

Sponsored by Orange County Music and Arts Administrators, the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and OCDE, the Orange County Music and Arts Educators Awards program annually spotlights exemplary teachers and administrators who oversee instrumental, vocal, theater, dance and visual arts programs at schools throughout the county.

This year’s ceremony was staged in the Samueli Theater at the Segerstrom Center.