{"id":26049,"date":"2018-07-06T12:07:09","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T17:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=26049"},"modified":"2018-07-06T12:07:09","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T17:07:09","slug":"apsu-student-advocates-in-d-c-to-keep-music-education-vivid-in-all-our-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2018\/07\/06\/apsu-student-advocates-in-d-c-to-keep-music-education-vivid-in-all-our-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU student advocates in D.C. to keep music education \u2018vivid\u2019 in all our schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin Peay State University<\/h2>\n

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – Mackenzie Kelly is passionate. She\u2019s passionate about playing the saxophone, but what really drives her at Austin Peay State University is her desire to gain a degree and help make a difference in children’s lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want to be a voice for those who can\u2019t advocate for themselves,\u201d she said during a recent interview. \u201cI believe music education is a good tool we can use to help disadvantaged students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay State University\u2019s Mackenzie Kelly was one of five Tennessee students and one of 119 students nationwide picked to attend the three-day summit and to advocate on Capitol Hill for the Guarantee Access to Arts & Music Education Act.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Last week she took that voice to Washington, D.C., as the fourth straight Austin Peay student picked to represent Tennessee at the National Association for Music Education Collegiate Advocacy (NAfME) Summit.<\/p>\n

Kelly was one of five Tennessee college students and one of 119 students nationwide picked to attend the three-day summit and to advocate on Capitol Hill for U.S. Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s GAAME Act, or the Guarantee Access to Arts & Music Education Act, which would expand federal money for arts education at underserved elementary and secondary schools. The bill was introduced on June 19th.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe role of music and art in a child\u2019s development cannot be forgotten \u2014 especially in schools where funding is limited and budgets are stretched,\u201d Vel\u00e1zquez, D-NY, said. \u201cI am proud to introduce legislation that would open the doors for enriching music education in these schools and help to ensure that all children are exposed to the joy and benefits of learning music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly advocated for the bill to Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker\u2019s offices, and she met and spoke with Corker.<\/p>\n

During the trip, Kelly toured the capital city, seeing the Washington and Lincoln monuments. But a highlight for her was seeing \u201cThe Commandant\u2019s Own\u201d Marine Drum and Bugle Corps perform. She also attended sessions about leadership and advocacy during the summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was cool to get to know a bunch of people my own age who wanted the same things I wanted,\u201d she said. \u201cEverybody there was a music educator. We were all there for the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly just finished what she calls her \u201cpower year\u201d at Austin Peay. She was president of the Governors Own Marching Band, president of APSU\u2019s NAfME chapter and recording secretary of Sigma Alpha Iota. She performs with the University\u2019s wind ensemble, symphonic band, saxophone ensemble and jazz band.<\/p>\n

After she graduates from Austin Peay, Kelly wants to lead a high school or middle school band program before joining education administration, specifically to help disadvantaged students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the grand scheme of things, music education is still vivid in our schools,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going anywhere. But there are still schools in rural and disadvantaged communities that don\u2019t have the money to put toward arts programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose students don\u2019t have the same opportunities to have arts as an outlet, and I\u2019d say that\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about the Bill<\/h3>\n

You can read more about the bill and track its progress at www.congress.gov\/bill\/115th-congress\/house-bill\/6137<\/a>. And you can find out more about NAfME at https:\/\/nafme.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Austin Peay State University Clarksville, TN – Mackenzie Kelly is passionate. She\u2019s passionate about playing the saxophone, but what really drives her at Austin Peay State University is her desire to gain a degree and help make a difference in children’s lives. \u201cI really want to be a voice for those who can\u2019t advocate for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,17135,13778,262,9084,825,4374,32277,193,32313,32314,32315,1758,2279],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-6M9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26049"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26050,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26049\/revisions\/26050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}