UC High Music Director Brandon Corenman received the David Paul Schuchman Award from San Diego Unified School District’s Visual and Performing Arts Office on April 29 at Copley Symphony Hall.
According to Principal Jeff Olivero, the award was given during the district’s High School Honors Concert.
“This is a great honor to earn, as it means that the experts in the area of instrumental music recognize the efforts and achievements he has reached in leading our programs,” explained Olivero.
The award is titled the “Outstanding High School Instrumental Music Teacher of the Year” and was presented by the San Diego Unified School District, according to Corenman.
“What was special about it was that it prompted a lot of people to say a lot of really nice things that I wasn’t expecting. A lot of students and parents really showed their appreciation. That was special and unexpected,” said Corenman.
“It’s my sixth year at UC High,” Corenman said. “Well, in the last six years, we’ve built up the UC High program to be one of the strongest in the district. Our groups regularly have really high ratings in judged performances and our band and color guard have actually reached new levels of success in competition and in performance excellence,” said Corenman.
“Now, we have a lot of outstanding musicians. We have all-state level musicians. We have people going off to music school as performers and as future music educators,” said Corenman.
“His orchestra group wins top awards. His choir squad recently earned ‘Unanimous Superior’ at the Mira Mesa Festival and his Winter Guard group finished as one of the top teams in Southern California. Lastly, his marching band and color guard took second in the state,” said Olivero.
Senior Band Performer Santino Arellano said, “Personally, I think he’s an incredible director. I think he’s very good at working with kids, and he’s very knowledgeable about music. He’s passionate about his job, that’s for sure. He’s helped all of us.”
Senior Marching Band Performer Annaly Keodara said, “My favorite thing about him [Corenman] is how hardworking and dedicated he is to the program, the amount of time that he dedicates to his students.”
“The color guard this year got a silver medal in a higher division than they have ever competed in before and made finals for the first time in school history. This year we got the first marching band medal in school history; we got the silver medal and we almost got gold by a small, small margin,” said Corenamn.
“[The award] was presented to me at the High School Honor Band and Orchestra concert that happened at Symphony Hall, Downtown. It was presented by the visual and performing arts department, and it was voted on by the other teachers,” said Corenman.