Betty-Ann Darby was honored at the recent South Carolina Music Educators Conference as the first recipient of the Deborah Smith Hoffman Mentor Award.  The stated purpose of the award, to be given annually, is to "recognize an outstanding teacher-mentor who has connected the wisdom of the past with the new and creative ideas of the future."  The late Deborah Hoffman was an outstanding music educator and a lifelong advocate for the visual and performing arts.  She served as president of the South Carolina Music Educators Association and was director of the Arts in Basic Education Project (ABC) for the state.  She was known for her dedication to the mentoring of young arts teachers to ensure that the next generation of students had the best of arts teachers.

In making the presentation, Christine Fisher, current director of the ABC Project, cited a quote by a former student of Betty- Ann's, w hich appears on the South Carolina Arts Commission's "List of Outstanding Educators."  It reads: "This is my 35th year of teaching visual art in SC.  It all began for me in middle school with an inspirational music teacher, Betty-Ann Darby, who showed me the joy that could be found in the arts.  I have tried to pass on that passion to the students who have had me as a teacher."

Betty-Ann taught music in the Florence District I Schools for 39 years, the last 14 serving as the district's first music coordinator.