Laura Hughes Wynia, 2023 NCTM Teacher of the Year
Each spring, the Ohio Music Teachers Association (OMTA) highlights a leader in the organization – a Nationally Certified member who excels as a teacher, serves as a role model, and who volunteers time to our organization. This year, Laura Hughes Wynia has been awarded the 2023 Music Teacher of the Year.
Wynia began her career serving as an Ohio State Park Naturalist, leading 21 educational sessions each week, and taught 7th and 8th grade math, life science, and earth science at what is now Sells Middle School in Dublin, Ohio. Once she became a mother, she left the classroom. She was a skilled musician who became a church pianist at the age of fourteen, so when a friend asked Wynia to teach her daughter piano, she did, and then added other students. Wynia had five children, which she home-schooled from kindergarten through high school.
Once she had attained the NCTM status in 2016, (Nationally Certified Teacher of Music,) Wynia volunteered for positions within CEOMTA and became known for her diligent work chairing the Scale Olympics piano event during and after COVID. Her attention to detail, her strong organization skills, and her incredibly calm, gracious, and thoughtful demeanor inspired us all. This is Wynia’s seventh year serving on the CEOMTA board of directors. She said “I’m very thankful for the vibrant, supportive music community we have in Columbus. I’ve learned so much through membership in MTNA, which has given me a connection to the music-teaching community and many opportunities for my students.”
Wynia’s students and her colleagues are richer for the experiences she has had (which also include singing in the Cleveland Orchestra’s Children’s Choir, playing bassoon in the Ohio All-State Orchestra, and running in the 2021 and 2022 Boston Marathons), the insights she has gleaned, and the wisdom she brings to her teaching. When not teaching music, she loves cooking, hiking, and running. She lives and teaches in Dublin, OH.
Laura Hughes Wynia, a native of Parma, Ohio, earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Wright State University in 1984.