Berkeley County School District is excited to recognize H.E. Bonner Elementary theatre teacher Christina Mixon for winning the Ray Doughty Arts Integration award at the Palmetto State Arts Education state conference.
The Ray Doughty award honors an individual/group/organization that embodies the true spirit of arts integration through the successful utilization of community partnerships and resources to create a greater awareness and encourage the growth of arts integration programs in South Carolina.
The award is named for Ray Doughty, a fine arts educator who served as the project director for South Carolina’s Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project, which is a nationally recognized arts education reform model.
Criteria for being nominated for the award includes:
Demonstrate a sustained commitment to arts integration through support and direct involvement with arts programming.
Demonstrate a vision for arts integration that involves collaboration between two or more groups.
Demonstrate desire to strengthen and grow arts integration opportunities in South Carolina schools especially schools in rural areas.
Mixon received the award during the Palmetto State Arts Education’s Annual Arts Integration Conference on Oct. 20; she was handed the award by Mr. Doughty himself.
“I was exceptionally honored,” Mixon said. “It was something I wasn’t expecting, and to be honored by your colleagues for something you are passionate about was just very heartwarming.”
Mixon studied music at the University of Connecticut, where she also attained two Master’s degrees: one in education and the other in curriculum and instruction. She has been at H.E. Bonner Elementary since the 2018-2019 school year. With her husband’s military background, Mixon has previously taught in Connecticut and Hawaii, but she loved H.E. Bonner so much that they decided to make Berkeley County their home.
Since joining H.E. Bonner Elementary, Mixon has served as a music teacher and then the Arts Integration Coach, and now this year she is the theatre teacher. With her fine arts background, she knows personally how important arts integration is for students.
“It gives them another lens to see what they’re learning,” she said. “We’ve been so fortunate to see that firsthand.”
Requirements for the award included two letters of recommendation, which were submitted by BCSD Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator Cassandra Cowdrey and ABC Institute Director Kim Wilson.
In her recommendation letter, Cowdrey wrote Mixon exemplifies the spirt of arts integration through her sustained commitment to collaboration, professional learning, and the development of meaningful connections between the arts and core academic content.
“She understands that arts integration is more than simply incorporating an art activity into an academic lesson; it is about intentionally connecting disciplines to deepen student understanding, engagement, creativity, and critical thinking,” Cowdrey said. “She has been a strong advocate for creating authentic learning experiences where students can access academic content through the visual and performing arts.”
Wilson echoed similar thoughts in her own letter.
“In my 16 years of facilitating arts integration, I have not encountered an educator with a stronger command of standards alignment,” she wrote. “(Mixon) understands not only the skills embedded within individual standards, but also how those skills develop across grade levels and content areas. Although she works in an elementary school, she recognizes the full trajectory of student learning through high school and approaches curriculum design with that long-term responsibility in mind.”
In addition to the letters of recommendation, Mixon submitted a personal statement as part of an application package to get the award. In her statement, Mixon detailed she believes arts integration is one of the most powerful ways to make learning accessible to every student. She wrote that beyond academic growth, arts integration develops the very skills educators want students to carry into the future: creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and perseverance.
"Arts integration is about much more than making lessons fun," she wrote. "It activates different parts of the brain, encourages students to make connections across disciplines, and helps them retrieve and apply prior knowledge in authentic ways."
Highlights of Mixon’s impact at H.E. Bonner Elementary were covered in a video submitted by her colleagues (VIEW VIDEO).
“I know what we’re doing is making a difference,” Mixon said. “None of this would happen without my team at Bonner. We all work so hard to make arts integration what it is now.”
