Recently Ms. Marschall, a voice lesson teacher at Eagan, won the ACE award after being nominated by Mr. Schafer and Mr. Cox, choir directors here at EHS.

The ACE (Advocate for Choral Excellence) Award was first presented in 2008. The award is presented to recognize individuals who give outstanding effort and support for choirs in their communities.

Mr. Schafer said, “The whole purpose is to recognize those who go out of their way. Four years ago Ms. Belke (Choir’s accompanist for many events) won this award. Ms. Marschall adopted our program.”

Mr. Schafer added, “To nominate a choir director,  you have to submit a name and a description of the person. They have nominees from all over the district and south metro. Our district picks whose names they’d like to send forward and from there a board of directors decides.”

There are 6 regions in which the award can be presented to. There isn’t necessarily a winner from each region every year. According to acda-mn.org, An ACE recipient is expected to receive the award in present. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case for Ms. Marschall. She was in labor at the time of the award ceremony and was unable to attend. Mr. Cox and Mr. Schafer were there on her behalf to accept the award.

Being she wasn’t able to get her recognition in person, The Choral department held a celebration for her at their last concert. They had cake and took a moment during the concert to explain what the award is and why they nominated her.

“She’s such a professional and she goes out of her way to find quality opportunities for her students. She does everything she can to help them reach their full potential.” Says Mr. Schafer.