Virginia Dickert
Instructor
Virginia is a Jacksonville native and has both of her music education degrees from Jacksonville University, where in 1995 she first became involved with the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus as a volunteer. When the conductor, Jim Taylor, unexpectedly couldn’t accompany the chorus to sing in New York, Virginia took the group on their very first choir experience to sing in Carnegie Hall!
Virginia has enjoyed teaching music for over 42 years in both the local private and public school systems as well as in several local churches. Elementary schools like St. Mark's Episcopal, Brookview, San Mateo, Parkwood Heights, and Windy Hill have enjoyed having Virginia as their music specialist. She received the Teacher of the Year award in 1995 at Windy Hill Elementary.
She was the music specialist at Jacksonville Country Day School for 25 years and has recently retired. Her JCDS Chorus consistently received first-place awards and superior ratings at the Music USA Festival in Orlando and was chosen to perform at the Florida Music Educators Conference in Tampa in 2004.
Her JCDS students were chosen to sing in the Florida Elementary All-State Chorus every year for over ten years. A special moment for her was to take her JCDS Chorus to New York, where they performed in Carnegie Hall alongside the JCC under the direction of Darren Dailey when he had his Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2008.
In 2018, the University of North Florida chose Virginia to be one of four teachers recognized with the Gladys Prior Award for Career Teaching Excellence. This is an annual award given to only four local teachers who have proven over the years to give tremendous inspiration to their students. Finally, in 2020, the Florida Music Educator Association chose Virginia to be the Florida Elementary Music Educator of the Year.
Virginia is excited to be back with the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus and believes every child deserves a chance to shine on stage. She believes in the JCC's mission of inspiring excellence in young singers through a high-quality choral music education!