In June, when Debra Reilly of Penn Forest Streams found out she had been nominated by one of her students for a Grammy as "Music Educator of the Year," she said that she was grateful to be able to do what she loves every day.

Now she has even more to be grateful for. Reilly was notified by phone in September that she is one of 25 semifinalists in the nationwide search."The call came in while I was teaching a class," said Reilly. "It was a California number so I assumed it was a telemarketer. But when I checked my voice mail it was from Kellyn Robeson, Grammy project coordinator, asking me to call her back as soon as possible. When I got off the phone I was heading into Meet the Teacher night; I was saying to myself 'Oh my God! How am I going into these meetings!'"While this will be the 57th year for the Grammy Awards, it is only the second year that the program will recognize a music educator who has "made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrates a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools," according to the press release issued in September.For this phase of the process, Reilly, who is employed by the Parkland School District as the middle school orchestra and strings director, was asked to provide a one-sentence statement about what this honor means to her."As a semifinalist, I am grateful The Grammy Foundation has provided me with the opportunity to be an advocate for music education, as music inspires, empowers, and rocks every child's world."If Reilly is selected for this prestigious award, she needs to be prepared to be a very busy lady. Last year's winner Kent Knappenberger is from Westfield, New York."It's still impacting me and it's impacting my students," Knappenberger said. He jokes that "until the next Miss America is crowned, you're going to be pretty busy."Reilly is no stranger to hard work. Besides her school responsibilities, she has a number of private students and performs with the Allentown Symphony as well as numerous other performances throughout the year. She also makes time to practice at least three hours a day."You think your life is going to get easier as you get older, but it gets more hectic," said Reilly. "My life is so rewarding, I wouldn't change anything."Reilly will learn in early December if she will be moving on to the group of 10 finalists. Each of those finalists will be awarded $1,000. The winner will be flown to Los Angeles for an award ceremony and will receive $10,000 for themselves and for their school.