A celebrated choir director and music teacher
Kathy Rohrs joined the Chaminade Middle School faculty in 2001 as the general music and choral director. A native of the San Fernando Valley, Kathy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Guitar and a K-12 Secondary Music Credential in Music Education from California State University, Northridge. As a Vocalist, Guitarist, Harpist, Conductor, Composer and Music Educator, Kathy Rohrs has been quite active throughout Southern California, and beyond, for over 30 years. She has recorded two compact discs containing compositions for voice, harp, and guitar. Kathy frequently performs and records with the New Horizon Singers directed by Mr. Sheldon Cohen (former musical conductor for The Johnny Carson Show.) Mrs. Rohrs has made our community proud as she has been honored for her excellence and achievements throughout the years. In 1998, Kathy was honored by the National Catholic Educators Association with the Distinguished Graduate Award. Kathy’s directing excellence has enabled her choirs to perform for Pope John Paul II during the millennium festivities in Rome, Italy in 2000. Over the years her choirs have also performed at Chaminade University in Hawaii, on stage each year at Disneyland and in the National Mall in Washington D.C. In 2005, the Music Center and the County of Los Angeles honored Kathy for her excellence in music education as a finalist for the Bravo Award Specialist Teacher for excellence in Arts Education. Mrs. Rohrs produced an album of original student compositions with the C-Notes called "Service, Justice, and Peace" which was released in January 2010. In 2011 and 2013, the Chaminade C-Notes performed as the “solo feature choir” in the National Youth Festival at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. In 2012, Kathy was honored by the Chaminade administration and faculty earning the William Joseph Chaminade Award, voted by her colleagues for exemplifying the Marianist Characteristics as an outstanding educator. In 2013, the Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce honored Kathy as the 2013 Creative Arts Teacher of the Year. Kathy was chosen in 2014 to be in the top 25 semi-finalists for the first ever Grammy Music Educator Award out of 30,000 other music educators from every state in the nation. In May of 2014, Kathy received the Innovation in Education Award from the Valley Economic Alliance. In 2015, Kathy was again chosen to be a quarter-finalist for the 2015 Grammy Music Educator Award. Mrs. Rohrs and the Chaminade C-Notes have had the distinct honor of performing as the “feature choir” on the prestigious Carnegie Hall stage in 2011, 2013, and 2015. In March 2017, the C-Notes again performed at Carnegie Hall in the National Youth Choral Festival alongside other choirs in the nation, and their latest return was in 2019. Undoubtedly, Mrs. Rohrs believes strongly in the value of music education. Her experience and dedication challenges students intellectually, socially, physically, psychologically, and allows them to attain the skills necessary to be successful in life.