Mary Beth Hillyard marks her 39th year in teaching orchestras in the state of Michigan in the 2018-19 school year, the last 36 of those years at East Grand Rapids Public Schools. Voted the District 10 Teacher of the Year several times, and the 2004 MSBOA State Teacher of the Year, Mary keeps her teaching fresh, innovative and creative by reaching out to her community and to groups such as ESME - the Eclectic String Music Ensemble- to engage her students. Mary is also an associate professor at Aquinas College. She is a founding member of the Calvin Community Symphony, a community based volunteer orchestra of musicians dedicated to keeping music a part of their life-long learning. Mary is married to fellow music teacher Frank and they have 3 beautiful children.