Margaret Saunders Ott is Teacher of the Year. (Association News).

Margaret Saunders Ott is Teacher of the Year. (Association News). Margaret "Margie May" Saunders Ott, NCTM NCTM National Council of Teachers of MathematicsNCTM Nationally Certified Teacher of MusicNCTM North Carolina Transportation MuseumNCTM National Capital Trolley MuseumNCTM Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage , is the 2003 MTNA MTNA Music Teachers National AssociationMTNA Middle Tennessee Nursery Association (McMinnville, Tennessee)Teacher of the Year. She accepted this honor at the MTNA National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah For ships of the United States Navy of the same name, see .Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake, or its initials, S.L.C. . As an award recipient, her conference expenses were sponsored by MTNA. "Margie May has touched so many lives with her love of music teaching and ongoing dedication to her students and to the profession," says MTNA President R. Wayne Gibson, NCTM. "I am honored to present this award to her." Ott, wanting to accompany her father who was a singer, began taking piano lessons at age 7 and began giving lessons at age 11 to children from neighboring farms in her hometown of Mt. Hope. AS a high school senior, she moved to Spokane, where she met Augusta Gentsch, her piano teacher. After graduating Mills College in Oakland, California, Ott studied in New York City New York City:see New York, city. New York CityCity (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. with Moriz Rosenthal--the last living pupil of Franz Liszt--and Sascha Gorodnitzky, assistant to Russian pianists Josef and Rosina Lhevinne. She earned a master's degree from Juilliard in 1943 and studied with Olga Samaroff-Stokowski, also working as her professional assistant. Ott's teaching career has included positions at Lebanon Valley Conservatory in Pennsylvania, the Bishop School in LaJolla, California, Gonzaga University and Whitworth College, along with years of private studio teaching in Spokane. Ott, now 82, has held numerous leadership roles in MTNA, both locally and nationally. At the local level she has been an active member of the Spokane Chapter of Washington State Music Teachers Association (WSMTA WSMTA Washington State Music Teachers Association ) for more than sixty years. She held just about every office, worked on all committees and served as Spokane Music Teachers Association president in 1955 and 1956 and as WSMTA president in 1962 and 1963. She maintains her local involvement today, attending meetings and supporting projects. She also is an active adjudicator ad��ju��di��cate?v. ad��ju��di��cat��ed, ad��ju��di��cat��ing, ad��ju��di��catesv.tr.1. To hear and settle (a case) by judicial procedure.2. for the WSMTA Adjudications ADJUDICATIONS, Scotch law. Certain proceedings against debtors, by way of actions, before the court of sessions and are of two kinds, special and general. 2.-1. By statute 1672, c. . On the national level, Ott has been a member of many committees, including the American Music Teacher Editorial Committee and the MTNA FOUNDATION Board. She currently serves on the FOUNDATION Advisory Council. Many of her students have won MTNA competitions at the state and division levels. Over the past fifty-five years, Ott has given many workshops throughout the state and currently offers four workshops on the state's official workshop list. She attends conventions regularly and often is a convention lecturer.