The Dover Middle School band concert was interrupted this week for a surprise announcement honoring its director.
As music teacher Micah Carrick helped set up percussion instruments for the eighth-grade band, School Board member John Maxwell announced that the Tuscarawas Arts Partnership had selected Carrick as the 2026 Tuscarawas County Arts Educator of the Year.
He said Carrick received an overwhelming number of nominations.
TAP presented the award at a banquet Monday, but Carrick could not attend because of the middle school band concert. Maxwell said there was probably nowhere else he’d rather be.
Carrick, who has been a music educator in Dover for 25 years, accepted the award humbly and celebrated by sharing a fist-bump with Dover High School Band Director Chris Redd, who won the award last year.
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