By Nevaeh Porter, Arts Editor
On Sept. 15, 2026, the NAfME chapter at Aquinas began the process of registering to become a registered on campus student organization.
NAfME students during one of their meetings – Photo by Shawni Thelen
NAfME stands for the National Association for Music Education. They are a professional organization that supports music educators and advocates for quality music education in schools. They provide teachers and future music educators with professional development, teaching resources, networking opportunities, research and advocacy for music education.
At Aquinas, the NAfME chapter has a five person E-board consisting of a president, a vice president, a secretary, a treasurer and a social media manager.
NAfME’s president this year is Shawni Thelen. The president has the role of running the E-Board, running NAfME meetings, helping plan out the semester and communicating with faculty and NAfME.
Their vice president is Tristen Johnson. The role of the vice president is to help the president, assist in planning events and service projects, be able to step in and take over when the president is not available and help to keep everyone on track.
The secretary is Amara German. Her role requires her to take meeting notes, send out meeting reminders, keep track of important information and help with emails and communication overall.
The treasurer is Lauren Espy. Her role is to keep track of the NAfME money, handle the budget, keep their receipts and spending records and coordinate any fundraising events they put on.
Social Media Manager Xavier Memije has the role of running the instagram account and other social media that they may have, making flyers and advertising their events and taking pictures and videos at such events.
Coming from Johnson, NAfME had and still has a main goal of gaining more members. They are currently at twenty members and are still trying to grow as a chapter.
NAfME vice president Johnson said that he has a personal goal that he hopes to begin to achieve. “I want the AQ community to be involved,” Johnson said. “Not just music students, but everyone as a whole. We want to plan more events for everyone. Yes, NAfME is music education, but music education is all education involving music. Not just the music department, but everyone that music has touched in some way.”
NAfME president Thelen also gave a goal the chapter wants to achieve. “To educate more members by bringing them to the Michigan Music Conference,” said Thelen.
NAfME E-Board members (from left to right) Lauren Espy, Tristen Johnson, Shawni Thelen, Xavier Memije and Amara German – Photo by Nevaeh Porter
NAfME has their first event on Oct. 20, 2026 at 12 p.m. in Kretschmer Recital Hall in the Arts and Music building. This event will feature Guest Speaker Gabrielle Cotter, former assistant band director and graduate student in conducting at Central Michigan University. More information about this can be found on their instagram page: Aquinas Nafme.
