Valley Stream music educators advance in Grammy contest

Victoria Alaimo and Elizabeth Klamkin were selected from among more than 3,000 nominees as quarterfinalists for the Grammy Music Educator Award, and have inched one step closer to winning a grand-prize trip to next year’s Grammy Awards on Jan. 28.

Alaimo, 38, has been an orchestra teacher at Memorial Junior High School for the past 15 years. She was also nominated for the award last year.

During her tenure at Memorial, she has served as the department head of fine and performing arts from 2004 to 2011, and is now the Tri-M Music Honor Society adviser. Alaimo is also the conductor of the Memorial Strings ensemble, which has earned first place in the Dorney Park Music in the Parks Festival in Pennsylvania for five straight years.

For Alaimo, though, her favorite part of teaching is “the number of lives you impact every year,” she said, adding that she enjoys that each day is different. “You never know what the day’s going to look like, and the kids are great,” she said.

Klamkin, 38, whose former students know her as Mrs. Pichichero, has taught at South High School since 2001. Her goal, she said, is to incorporate different genres into her lesson plans, including classical, ethnic and even pop music. “I just thought it was important to teach young musicians with songs they listen to,” Klamkin said, adding that the students enjoy learning how to play music that they are familiar with.

She is not only a teacher, but also the director and conductor of the school’s chamber orchestra, which comprises students in grades seven to 12 who audition for the extracurricular ensemble. This role, Klamkin said, gives her the opportunity to watch her students mature. “When you have the children for that many years, you have these bonds,” she said.

In fact, she inspired recent graduate Rafael Yeni to study music education at the State University of New York at Fredonia. “She built me up,” Yeni said. “She was my inspiration. She wasn’t just my teacher. She was my friend. I guess she was kind of like my idol in high school.”

Even so, Klamkin said she was surprised that she was nominated for the Grammy Educator Award. “Oh my gosh, I was surprised and honored at the same time,” she said.

To Adam Erdos, the district’s director of fine and performing arts, the teachers’ nominations are well deserved.

“Having one teacher as a quarterfinalist is a great honor for any school district,” Erdos said. “That the Valley Stream Central High School District has two is further proof that our music faculty is second to none. Ms. Alaimo and Ms. Klamkin are both outstanding music educators, and are thoroughly deserving of this designation in every way.”

Fifteen semifinalists will receive $500 honorariums with matching school grants. Ten finalists will receive $1,000 honoraria, and the schools of all 10 will receive matching grants. Alaimo and Klamkin will learn whether they have advanced to the next round in September.