HHS Music Teacher Up for Grammy Foundation Award

Havre de Grace High School music teacher Rick Hauf is up for a Grammy—well, almost! He's made it to the quarterfinals in a national competition to find the best music teachers across the country.

The Grammy Foundation and The Recording Academy, two organizations under the Grammy umbrella to further promote music, announced Thursday that they had selected 222 quarterfinalists for their second annual Music Educator Award, and Hauf was among them.

Hauf was selected from a pool of 7,000 music teachers nationwide, according to the foundation. See the complete list of quarterfinalists. Hauf was one of seven educators selected in Maryland, and the only one in Harford County to make it to the quarterfinals.

Music teachers from kindergarten through college were encouraged to apply or be nominated for the award, which aims to identify those "who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools," according to a statement from the Grammy Foundation.

The next round of semifinals will be in September, with the official award presentations happening at the 2015 Grammy week celebration. The winner will receive $10,000 and be flown out to Los Angeles for the 2015 Grammy awards.

This isn't the first time Hauf has been recognized for being a standout educator.

Hauf was named the Havre de Grace Patch Person of the Year in 2011. Readers said things like "I can't wait until my children are in his music program at the high school...!" and described him as the "'perfect' high school music teacher" for his enthusiasm and engagement in students' lives.