Edward Varner has been an educator, musician, percussionist, actor, and arts education specialist and advocate for more than 30 years. He has taught award winning K-12 music programs in California, Nevada, and Washington State and presented language experience, music, arts, and literacy workshops for the National Association for Music Education, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the International Reading Association, the Virginia Reading Association, the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools, the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the International Conference on Education (HI), the Arts Time Conference (WA), Montana State University, the California Arts Project, Great Basin College, and a variety of school districts. He provided seven years of arts leadership as the supervisor of music and art education for the Great Falls Public Schools in Great Falls, MT and is currently the Director of Visual and Performing Arts for the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, PA.
Ed holds a BA in Music from CSU, Los Angeles. He completed the Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Leadership in 2005 from the University of British Columbia, and earned the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in School Leadership from Concordia University Chicago in 2017.
“As an educator, I have always been a firm believer in the philosophies if integration and differentiation of curriculum to better meet the needs of students. I must know my students in order to adequately and effectively meet them where they are and help them progress to the next level. This philosophy of knowing your students necessitates the added element of care. Educators must care for their students, themselves, and have the fortitude to continue caring when it appears that others have surrendered.” - Edward Varner