Janice Vlachos

Janice Vlachos, the head of the music department, overcame many obstacles throughout her career, from being a female director to raising two kids while teaching. Vlachos is the director of five choirs: Troubadours, Enchantment, Festival, Age of Guenivere and Excalibur.

“When I first started teaching, I was 23 or 24, and I was one of the only [female] choir directors […] that taught at the high school level,” said Vlachos.

Vlachos has been a music director for 27 years. Throughout her career, Vlachos had 16 groups attend the Colorado Music Educators Association, which is the state record for groups to participate in CMEA. In addition, she has had a group sing at the national level, a group win a Downbeat Award and has directed the only women’s group to sing at the Jazz Educator’s Conference.

Early in her career, Vlachos worked in a male-dominated environment and struggled with men acting superior.

“I remember the fifth time I had a group make [CMEA] […] and one of the male directors said, ‘Who do you f*ck to get your groups in?’” said Vlachos. “I was so flabbergasted I didn’t even know what to say.”

Being viewed and treated as a subordinate caused Vlachos to feel less of a person.

“It was really demeaning […] I felt like I had to be less than who I am so that people wouldn’t say bad things about me,” said Vlachos.

Having overcome many challenges and obstacles in her career, Vlachos learned an important lesson about others as well as herself.

“People are going to say what they’re going to say […] and I needed to stop being less than what I was capable of being to fit into their idea of what I should be,” said Vlachos. “[D]on’t be less, and it doesn’t matter what anybody says.”