Meet the 2026 Recipients!
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MUSIC TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Band and Choir Director, General Music Teacher
St. Bruno Parish School, Dousman
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EMERGING MUSIC EDUCATOR
Orchestra Teacher
Pilgrim Park Middle School, Elmbrook School District
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Certificates of Excellence:
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INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC INSTRUCTION
Orchestra Director
Wauwatosa East High School, Wauwatosa School District
GENERAL MUSIC INSTRUCTION
General Music Teacher
Stormonth Elementary School, Fox Point-Bayside School District
STUDIO MUSIC INSTRUCTION
Piano
Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
YOUTH MUSIC
Piano
Join us on March 1 to celebrate these inspiring educators at the Bradley Symphony Center!
2026 SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE
If you or your company would like to become a sponsor of this event, please click the link for more information.
MUSIC TEACHER OF THE YEAR
LISA WERNER
Band and Choir Director, General Music Teacher
St. Bruno Parish School, Dousman
​​Lisa Werner serves as the preschool through eighth-grade music teacher, fourth-eighth grade band director, and fifth-eighth grade choir director at St. Bruno Parish School in Dousman, Wisconsin. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she supervises student teachers. She holds a bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education from UW-Whitewater and a master’s degree in conducting from the American Band College through Southern Oregon University.
Lisa enjoys performing in jazz ensembles and local pit orchestras. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and is also certified by National Geographic and as a Google Educator. She has served on the Wisconsin Music Educators Association board and coached the Wisconsin School Music Association Middle Level Honors Project. Her work in music education, advocacy, and innovation has been recognized through numerous state and national honors, including the Herb Kohl Fellowship, the Henry Ford Innovation Nation Teacher Innovator Award (Grand Prize), multiple national advocacy and creativity awards from Music for All and the Wisconsin Music Educators Association, recognition from the International Space Station National Laboratory, and the 2025 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Distinguished Alumni Award. She is also a two-time Grammy Music Educator Award Quarterfinalist and the 2025 Wisconsin Air and Space Forces Association State Teacher of the Year.
In addition to her work in music education, Lisa is actively involved in several STEM-focused organizations that support interdisciplinary and global learning, such as the Limitless Space Institute Educators and NASA Solar System Ambassadors. She serves as a board member for Space for Teachers, where she advocates for the inclusion of the arts and for international collaboration within STEAM education. Outside the classroom, Lisa and her husband, Josh, have two daughters, Ella and Marlina. Together, they love traveling the world and learning from the people and places they encounter along the way.
Lisa is constantly seeking new ways to connect music with other content areas for her students. This passion has led her to perform students’ experiments on sound and music while playing her trombone on a zero-gravity flight; perform a wedding in Antarctica as a National Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions Grosvenor Fellow; explore the connection between ocean surveying and music aboard a Pacific Ocean research vessel through the NOAA Teacher at Sea program; and introduce American jazz to students in a Senegalese school through the Fulbright Program. But more than anything, Lisa is most curious about this question: Where has music taken you?
EMERGING MUSIC EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR
KRISTA WITAK
Orchestra Teacher
Pilgrim Park Middle School, Elmbrook School District
Krista Witak is a proud Elmbrook educator where she teaches middle school orchestra alongside fellow strings educator, Alexis Ganos. This year, she co-presented a session (Building a Culture of Learning Through Student Agency) at the Wisconsin State Music Educators conference in Madison, WI. Krista received her bachelor’s degree in K-12 instrumental and general music education from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2021, where she participated in numerous string ensembles as a cellist, premiered works by student composers, and was a member of the Blugold Marching Band from 2017-2019. During her four years as a student, she was an active member, Secretary, Vice President, and President of the collegiate chapter of the American String Teachers Association and collaborated with area educators to host the Eau-Claire area Youth Honors Orchestra event in 2019. Since assuming her current position at Pilgrim Park Middle School and Wisconsin Hills Middle School, Krista has prepared her ensembles to perform at the Beyond the Notes festival in Wisconsin Dells, facilitated district-wide, 4-12th grade string festival concerts, helped execute a Middle School Honors experience for Elmbrook music students in celebration of the Wisconsin Arts Board's 50th anniversary in 2024, and founded a mixed string ensemble club for students to learn and perform alternative music from folk, pop, and other genres. Her prior teaching experience also includes elementary orchestra and general music in the Mount Horeb School District.
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC INSTRUCTION
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MICHAEL HAYDEN
Orchestra Director, Wauwatosa East High School, Wauwatosa School District
​Michael Hayden is a National Board Certified Teacher and currently serves as the Director of Orchestras at Wauwatosa East High School. He received his bachelor of music education from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his master of music in music education from Northwestern University. His primary teachers include Dr. Robert Hasty, Dr. Peter Webster, Dr. Maud Hickey, Dr. James Kjelland, Mr. Akira Endo, and Mr. Allan McMurray. Mr. Hayden has additionally studied conducting with Dr. Gary Lewis (Colorado-Boulder) and
Mr. Jeffrey Grogan (Oklahoma City University).
Under his direction, the orchestras at Wauwatosa East High School have performed at the Wisconsin State Capitol, Wisconsin Association of School Board (WASB) Annual Conference, the Wisconsin Music Education (WMEA) Conference, and most recently, Wisconsin Public Radio. He has additionally led international performances tours throughout Austria, Germany, Czechia, Italy, and will perform in 2027 in Norway. Michael has previously held positions as state technology chair on the Wisconsin Music Education Association (WMEA) Council, served as the North Central Representative on the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Council on Music Composition and is a previous lecturer in music education at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
GENERAL MUSIC INSTRUCTION
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SHAINA O'SULLIVAN
General Music Teacher
Stormonth Elementary School, Fox Point-Bayside School District
Shaina O’Sullivan is a general music teacher at Stormonth Elementary School in Fox Point, Wisconsin, where she teaches students in grades 4K through fourth grade. She has been an educator for 17 years and holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Concordia University Wisconsin.
Shaina began her teaching career at Red Hill Elementary School in Gypsum, Colorado, where she taught general music for four years. She later moved to Wisconsin to join the faculty of Stormonth Elementary, drawn by the opportunity to direct the after-school musical - a passion she continues to pursue. Now in her 13th year at Stormonth, her passion for teaching young learners continues to evolve. From ballroom dance to transcribing British heavy metal vocalist Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” Shaina continues to explore creative ways to engage her students. She is honored to receive the CIVIC MUSIC MKE Certificate of Excellence for General Music Education.
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
STUDIO MUSIC INSTRUCTION
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Lynn Roginske
Piano
Wisconsin Conservatory of Music​
Lynn Roginske is a music educator, pianist, and presenter. On the faculty at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Lynn teaches piano, music theory and composition. She regularly performs at their Early Childhood family concerts. In demand as a piano soloist throughout Wisconsin, Lynn performs a repertoire that highlights the enduring songs of the Great American Songbook, Latin favorites along with popular tunes from theater and film. Her recent performances include playing at St. John’s on the Lake and at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center for their Spark! Program, an interactive music and nature encounter for adults with memory loss and their caregivers. Honored to be affiliated with the Festival City Symphony Orchestra, Lynn prepares and presents the preconcert talk “Unlocking the Score” at each of their Saturday Classic concerts at the Bradley Symphony Center. Additionally, she hosts the FCS’s Pajama Jamboree family concerts held at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Lynn provides the music accompaniment for services at a local church as she has for more than thirty years.
Lynn earned a bachelor of music degree, Wisconsin College-Conservatory; a master of music degree, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music; and has Wisconsin D. P. I. Certification in General Music, Adaptive Music, and Choral Education, Alverno College. For 25 years, Lynn was a Music Specialist for the Milwaukee Public Schools, teaching at Gaenslen School (K-8) and Pulaski High School. Outside of work, Lynn is an avid photographer (member of Coalition of Photographic Arts MKE and Photo Midwest-Madison), enjoys travel and the great outdoors. She has cultivated an interest in horticulture and is enthusiastically applying sustainable and eco-friendly landscaping practices to develop her premises.
CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE
YOUTH MUSIC
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Steven Ayers
Piano
Steven Ayers holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in piano, and a Performers Certificate from Indiana University. But he also earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UW-Oshkosh! After retiring from 20 years of public accounting, he has devoted his time to teaching piano and accompanying. He is a fixture as an accompanist at local competitions such as Milwaukee Symphony's Stars of Tomorrow and Bach Double competitions, and Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra’s annual concerto competition. He has been a regular accompanist for several years at UWM's String Academy of Wisconsin. Steve also accompanies numerous student and professional recitals. He has performed the complete Beethoven sonata cycle between 2009 and 2014 and will shortly finish performing the complete Well-Tempered Clavier. And finally, he is the proud father of two professional musicians.
Join us on March 1 to celebrate these inspiring educators at the Bradley Symphony Center!
Celebrate one of these fine educators and support the programming of CIVIC MUSIC at the same time with a tribute gift! Donors will be acknowledged at the reception.
2026 SPONSORSHIPS AVAILABLE
If you or your company would like to become a sponsor of this event, please click the link for more information.
CIVIC MUSIC MKE supports music education and provides performance
opportunities to young musicians in the Greater Milwaukee area.