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Stroud is First Dance Educator to Win Excellence in Education Award
(Hartford, CT) CREC’s Kim Stroud recently became the first dance educator to ever receive a Connecticut Department of Education’s Excellence in Education Award.
Stroud, who lives in Madison, serves as director of the arts at CREC’s Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts High School in Hartford and as general director for the Center for Creative Youth, an internationally-known summer arts program run by CREC and held at Wesleyan University.
The Excellence in Education Award recognizes and honors exemplary individuals for their contributions to education in Connecticut. Award recipients are selected by their respective professional organizations.
“I thank everyone for recognizing me and for recognizing dance as the valuable educational study that is,” Stroud says. “I respectfully receive this award for me, my colleagues, and my students—all who give so much to the study, elevation, and perpetuation of this beautiful form.”
Stroud has worked at the CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts High School since 1993, holding several different positions over the years. She’s also worked at various dance schools, was a principal soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company for 11 years, and danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. In addition, Stroud has been a master teacher at several colleges, including Connecticut College, Eastern Connecticut State University, and the University of Hartford.
This is not the first time that Stroud has been recognized for her work as an educator. She’s been recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and the Connecticut Dance Alliance. The National Dance Education Organization named Stroud its Outstanding Dance Educator of the Year in 2005, and Stroud was named the International Arts Schools Network’s Teacher of the Year in 2009. “Dance Teacher Magazine” named her its Outstanding Dance Educator in 2012.
Stroud is a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s International Dance Council.
