Sara White-Farnell, DirectorSara White-Farnell graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans with a Bachelor’s in Music Education, and is in her twenty-fifth year as an Orchestra Director with Fulton County Schools. Mrs. White-Farnell started with Roswell High School in 2006. Ms. White-Farnell has served as Fine Arts Department Chair and the first teacher representative on the School Governance Council. She is the Tri-M Music Honor Society sponsor and is the Fine Arts Support Teacher for high school orchestra teachers with Fulton County Schools.
In the 2014-2015 school year, Mrs. White-Farnell was awarded the Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction Award from the National Society of High School Scholars. The Fulton County Board of Education formally recognized Mrs. White-Farnell on November 20, 2014. She has also been recognized by MIT as being especially influential in student development. Prior to joining Roswell High School, Mrs. White-Farnell taught for nine years at several schools including Crabapple Middle School and Roswell North Elementary (both feed into Roswell High School). She was named teacher of the year for the 2003-2004 school year at Crabapple Middle School. Under the leadership of Mrs. White-Farnell, Crabapple Middle School became the first school in the state of Georgia asked to produce "Make Your Own Radio Show" (MYORS) in conjunction with the famed "From the Top" series, hosted by Christopher O'Reilly on Public Radio International. Throughout her teaching career, Mrs. White-Farnell has received many grants. this includes twelve grants including Fulton County Mini-Grants, CMS and RHS PTA Grants, and multiple Roswell Women's League Grants. Additionally, she was the Georgia Middle School Association (GMSA) Regional Grant winner in 2006 and preformed a world premiere of "The Epic of Gilgamesh" by Bill Dyson, to open the GMSA conference. Mrs. White-Farnell continues to enjoy writing grants, most recently winning one for an iPad and one for a full classroom set of Expressive Techniques for Orchestra. Mrs. White is part of the National Association for Music Education, American String Teachers Association, and the Georgia Music Educators Association. |