Sandra Bosher Thornton '03 Named a 'Rising Star' by SUNY Potsdam Alumni

Related Media

SUNY Potsdam Interim President Dr. Dennis L. Hefner presents the 2013 Rising Star Award to Sandra Bosher Thornton ’03, along with Amy Kellogg ’99, 1st VP of the College’s Alumni Association.

POTSDAM, NY (07/29/2013)(readMedia)-- The SUNY Potsdam Alumni Association recently honored Sandra Bosher Thornton '03 with the 2013 Rising Star Award, at the College's annual Reunion Weekend.

The Rising Star Award is presented to an alum who has demonstrated outstanding professional achievement in the first decade following graduation. Thornton was recognized for her outstanding accomplishments early in her teaching career.

As an undergraduate, she won the Catherine English Award for her outstanding service as a student teacher. She holds a master's degree in choral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and currently supervises graduate and undergraduate music education interns from the conservatory.

In the decade since her graduation, Thornton has become yet another in a distinguished list of choral directors trained at The Crane School of Music. Thornton is already recognized as one of the foremost youth and treble choir conductors in the nation and is much in demand as a guest conductor.

Since 2008, she has been the choir director at Anderson High School near Cincinnati, Ohio. In March 2013, her Varsity Mixed Chorus singers were featured performers at Carnegie Hall. They performed as an ensemble and then as part of a larger group that performed the Fauré "Requiem" under the baton of Dr. David Rayl.

She was recently named one of 217 national quarterfinalists for the first-ever Music Educator Award presented by the Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation, out of 30,000 nominations. Thornton was also a finalist in the prestigious Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce Educator of the Year Award.

As associate director of the Cincinnati Children's Chorus, she is a leader in that internationally recognized program, which involves seven youth choirs and five satellite choirs. Thornton conducts the Piccolo Coro and Vivace choirs, which develop choral singing and musicianship skills for students in grades 1 through 8, and assists with the other choirs in the program.

She recently founded and is the conductor of the professional women's vocal ensemble Voce. Thornton was in residence at The Crane School of Music during the 2011-12 academic year as the inaugural Joy Anthony Douglass Master Teacher, demonstrating a tradition of excellence to future generations of Crane music education graduates.

To learn more about SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

Founded in 1816, and located on the outskirts of the beautiful Adirondack Park, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America's first 50 colleges. SUNY Potsdam currently enrolls approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its handcrafted education, challenging liberal arts and sciences core, excellence in teacher training and leadership in the performing and visual arts. Empowered by a culture of creativity, the campus community recently launched Take the Lead: The Campaign for Potsdam, which aims to raise $27 million by the College's bicentennial in 2016.

###