State music educators to honor Mike Morgan

Mike Morgan of Colfax will be inducted into the Washington Music Educators Hall of Fame next February.

The honor was announced in late October for Morgan, a 24-year teacher and coach in the Colfax School District.

“We issue hearty congratulations to him,” said Kathy Treece, Office Manager of WMEA, an organization formed in 1937. “He will join a very special group, it’s quite an honor to be selected.”

The WMEA inducted its first Hall of Fame class in 1998, with up to 10 inductees each year.

Morgan and nine others will be honored at a Feb. 11 banquet at the WMEA state conference in Yakima, at which Morgan will also be teaching three clinics.

“I had no idea, that I was being considered,” he said. “I’m humbled by the induction. It’s hard to put into words when you’re put into a group of names you’ve spent 24 years trying to emulate.”

Morgan teaches instrumental music to grades 5-12, with a zero hour jazz band class. His concert and jazz bands receive perennial high marks at festivals in the northwest.

He grew up in Vale, Ore., playing a saxophone as his first instrument before graduating from WSU and starting his teaching career. Morgan is also the head football coach for Colfax High.