Sara Cowan is in her fourteenth year at Central High School. Cowan was named the NCDA Outstanding Young Choral Director in 2016, the Central High School Teacher of the Year in 2021, and earned a Music Teacher of Excellence Award from the Country Music Awards Foundation in 2022. She currently serves as treasurer for Nebraska Choral Directors’ Association and previously served as Treble Choirs R&R Chair (2014-2019). She also served on the Nebraska MEA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access Committee (2020-2023). She has presented at NMEA and NCDA conferences and regularly serves as a choral clinician and adjudicator. She holds a BM from Grinnell College and an MM in choral conducting from the University of Minnesota. She and her husband, Brian, are both proud alumni of Central High School and loving parents to Miriam and Clara.