Barry Manilow to award Savannah High band director with $5,000 scholarship for music program

Iconic singer-songwriter Barry Manilow is rocking into Savannah on Sunday, but not before awarding Reggie Mitchell, the fine arts department chair and director of bands at Savannah High School, with The Manilow Music Teacher Award.

The Manilow Music Teacher Award recognizes a deserving local music teacher who helps to bring music to life for his or her students. When Mitchell first heard he’d been nominated by Savannah High principal Gequetta Jenkins, he was shocked.

“She was saying that with the work that you put in, the time that you put in, you are more than a worthy recipient for this prestigious award,” Mitchell recalled when Jenkins announced his nomination at the school’s winter recital. “She’s been in my corner since day one in helping me build this program.”

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From being inspired to join the band by a Savannah middle school director to studying music education at Savannah State University by the urging of his high school and college director, Mitchell is now going on 23 years of bringing the same joy to his students.

“I’m humbled to be nominated as one of the top educators, but even more so, winning this award is humbling. Like I told my students, this award is nothing without the hard work and dedication of my staff, as well as the kids because the kids are the ones who actually put the work in and make my job easy each and every day.”

The teacher with the most public votes in each city of Manilow’s tour will receive $10,000 — a $5,000 cash prize and a $5,000 Manilow Bucks credit that can be used to purchase instruments for their classroom.

When Mitchell was first hired as the band director at Savannah High, he started with seven kids. That number has now increased to 91 students in the program, and he said the money is a need that will greatly help further the music education of his students.

“Us being an inner city school, we have kids who cannot afford instruments and things of that nature. By having extra instruments on hand, I will be able to put an instrument in a scholar's hand versus turning a scholar away because I don’t have an instrument for them. This will make a big difference.”

As the winner, Mitchell was invited to the upcoming Barry Manilow concert and will be presented with the award in a special backstage meet and greet.

“I'm thankful for my principal for the nomination … my support system as far as my mother, my aunts, my uncles and my mentors here in Savannah as well as in Jacksonville, Florida, who have supported me along my journey and pushed me to do the things that I do to become the educator that I am. It takes a village to become successful educators.”

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah High band director wins Barry Manilow Music Teacher Award