Dr. Mark Sholl, performing arts coordinator for Hilliard City Schools, won the Arts Educator Champion Award from Creative Ohio, a statewide arts advocacy organization.
The district announced the honor Monday, Oct. 19. Sholl was one of three finalists for the award, which recognizes his work advocating for arts education across Central Ohio. The honor is part of CreativeOhio’s annual Champion Advocacy Awards, which spotlight a different Ohio region each year.
He oversees music budgets and staffing across the district, according to the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestras. That portfolio covers 26 orchestras, 31 bands and 26 choirs districtwide.
Beyond Hilliard, Sholl serves on the board of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, where he chairs the education committee. He also directs the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestras' Repertory Orchestra, an ensemble of students in grades 7 through 10 that performs about four times a season at venues around Central Ohio.
Before stepping into the coordinator role, Sholl spent 24 years as orchestra director at Hilliard Davidson High School. He led Davidson's orchestras to multiple national and state conferences, including the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, two European tours and a tour of Canada. Before that, he spent six years as orchestra and assistant band director at Grove City High School, where he won the National Sallie Mae Teaching Award.
Sholl has also conducted ensembles at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. He studied at the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Michigan, where he earned a Bachelor of Music, and at Ohio State University, where he earned a Master of Arts and a Ph.D.
Sholl is past president of the Ohio Orchestra and String Teachers Association and sits on the board of the Hilliard Arts Council. In 2011, he received the Ohio Music Education Association's Outstanding Music Teacher of the Year award.
Families interested in the district's performing arts programs can find details on the Hilliard City Schools fine arts page.
