Zachary Morita is in his 16th year as a music teacher at Niu Valley Middle School. He was recently awarded the 2022 Hawaii State Teachers Association’s STACY Award for excellence in teaching. Zachary was a 2020-22 Hawaii State Teacher Fellow within the Hawaii Department of Education. He is a winner of the 2018 Farmers Insurance $100,000 Dream Big Teacher Challenge. He has taken student performance groups to New York, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Massachusetts, Texas, and Australia. Zachary has conducted and directed student groups at the 2019 Australian International Music Festival in the Sydney Opera House, the 2017 New York Wind Band Festival in Carnegie Hall, the 2016 National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy, the 2014 American School Band Directors Association Conference, and the 2012 Winter Guard International Percussion World Championships. Active in the Hawaii music community, Zachary has served as Associate Music Director of the Honolulu Wind Ensemble, President/Founder of the Hawaii Youth Percussion Ensemble, and Treasurer and Solo & Ensemble Chairperson for the Oahu Band Directors Association. As an artist endorser, he proudly represents Grover Pro Percussion and Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments.