7th Annual Frank Prize for the Performing Arts to Award $12K to Two Local Arts Educators

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - April 7, 2015 - PRLog -- Seventh Annual Randolph A. Frank Prize for the Performing Arts to Award $12,000 to Pair of Accomplished Performing Arts Educators

(West Palm Beach, FL - April 7, 2015) Two individuals whose dedicated work enhances the quality of life in Palm Beach County have been selected by the Frank Prize Board of Directors* as the seventh annual 2015 recipients of the Randolph A. Frank Prize for the Performing Arts. On behalf of his esteemed fellow board members, Founding Chairman Steven Caras happily announced that the winners will be awarded crystal trophies and $6,000 each at a private ceremony in their honor, taking place on April 20, 2015, at Nick & Johnnie's Palm Beach restaurant.  The event will be sponsored by Frank Foundation trustees and Palm Beach residents Nancy and Jay Parker.

Dawn Jones, music teacher at Everglades Elementary School, will be awarded one of this year's two Performing Arts Educator Prizes.

Ms. Jones is an accomplished educator who has dedicated her entire professional career to bringing high quality performing arts education to thousands of students in the Palm Beach County public school system. A strong believer that the arts and core academics can work together, she was a pioneer in creating a "Fine Arts Integration" program for K-5 educators during her tenure at Greenacres Elementary School (1988 - 1998). As a music teacher at Pioneer Park Elementary School in Belle Glade, and throughout her teaching career, Ms. Jones recognized the need for additional learning opportunities outside of the school day, and began after-school programs in chorus, guitar, drama, hand bells, and television production. Reaching beyond the walls of her school, Ms. Jones collaborated with a local neurosurgeon in 1992 to implement a music program which allowed musical elements to be adapted to the special needs of the students of the Royal Palm School in Lantana. Ms. Jones continued in her role as K-5 Music Teacher at Frontier Elementary School in Loxahatchee and Everglades Elementary School in West Palm Beach, where she continues to teach today.Throughout her more than twenty-seven years of professional service to the young students of Palm Beach County, Ms. Jones has looked for every opportunity to provide extra help and instruction to all students in need. Ms. Jones holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from the University of South Florida and a Masters of Arts in Education from Florida Atlantic University.

For dedicating her entire career to the furthering of Performing Arts Education in the Palm Beach County community, and for creating an exemplary classroom experience for her students which is hands-on, fun, and endlessly rewarding, Ms. Dawn Jones has been rewarded the 2015 Randolph A. Frank Prize for Performing Arts Educator.

John Weatherspoon, choral instructor at Lake Worth High School, is the second recipient of the 2015 Randolph A. Frank Prize for Performing Arts Educator.

Having begun his public school teaching career in 1990 at Seminole Trails Elementary, he moved to Lake Worth High School in 1992, where he continues to teach today. Mr. Weatherspoon has dedicated over twenty-three years to choral excellence at the high school level in Palm Beach County. Most recently, Mr. Weatherspoon's students have returned from performing at Carnegie Hall with the National Festival Chorus. Prior to that, his students received straight superiors (highest rating possible) at the Palm Beach County Music Performance Assessment, adjudicated in March of 2015. The past decades of Mr. Weatherspoon's career have been spent in a public school setting focused on meeting the needs of all students. He sees students every day who benefit from extra help, encouragement, instruction, and compassion. His commitment to the ever-changing public school landscape and its broader community-wide implications have made him a "fixture" and a source of pride in Lake Worth.

Mr. Weatherspoon is also the founding Artistic Director of "Espressivo," a community-based choral organization dedicated to highlighting and expanding the choral art form throughout Palm Beach County.  Mr. Weatherspoon holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Southeastern Louisiana University and a Masters of Arts in Choral Conducting from Florida Atlantic University.

For dedicating his entire professional career to bringing the highest quality of performing arts education to Palm Beach County students, and for helping all of his students and colleagues to see that the performing arts have a positive, life-changing impact for all constituents, Mr. John Weatherspoon will receive the 2015 Randolph A. Frank Prize for Performing Arts Educator.

Quote from Dawn Jones:

"A complete arts-based instruction provides each student the opportunity to grow musically, emotionally, artistically, and academically.It is within this comprehensive framework that we as arts educators can develop the artist from within.”

Quote from John Weatherspoon:

"I always tell the students at my Title I high school that they can compete at the same level as any other student or school.  They only have to be willing to work as if they want to win!”

* Frank Prize Board:  Tracy C. Butler, Jo Ann Engelhardt, Ann Marie Rezzonico, Roy Bartolomei, Craig D. Ames, and Founding Chairman, Steven Caras

Available for Interview:

Dawn Jones

561.308.7797

dawn.jones@palmbeachschools.org

John Weatherspoon

561.358.1852

expressivopb@gmail.com

Media Contacts:

Jo Ann Engelhardt

561.835.8300 or 561.371.3927

ENGELHARDT@bessemer.com

Tracy Butler

561.651.4243

butler@kravis.org

Steven Caras

561.281.3684

stevecaras@aol.com