Janice Ragland

Janice Ragland is retired from 29 years of experience in public schools in Missouri (Raytown, Lee¹s Summit, Sedalia, North Kansas City and Park Hill). She is currently an adjunct voice instructor at Maple Woods Community College and Missouri Western State University. Previously she taught at State Fair Community College and directed the Chamber Singers of Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg. This is her 18th year as director of the Northland Community Choir. For 13 years she served as Minister of Music at Englewood Baptist Church. Janice has taught private voice in the William Jewell Prep School and at Music Arts Institute of Independence. Currently she has a private voice studio of 40 high school students with numerous students recently named to the Missouri All State Choir, Missouri 7-8 and 9-10 Honors Choirs, SWACDA Honors Choir and the National ACDA Junior High Honors Choir. She has directed the MAI Children's Choir and the Kansas City, Kansas All-City Children's Choir.

Janice is active in the Music Educators National Conference and the American Choral Directors Association. She organized the first MCDA Central District Choir and then the first KC MCDA District Choir. She has served as President of MMEA Kansas City Dist. #3 and received the National Freedom Foundation Award for her original production "Call Me An American". She is currently the District Director of the KC Metro district for MCDA. In 1997-98 she taught at the American International School of Cairo, Egypt.

She is a graduate of Central Missouri Sate University with a BME in Vocal Music and a MA in Music History and Literature. Additional study includes Georgia State University, Colorado University, SMSU, UMKC, and others. She has performed in the Classical Music Seminar in Eisenstadt, Austria and traveled in Europe five times with student choirs. Her choirs have twice been selected to perform for MMEA.