Ms. Petrenko is the new student teacher for the winter semester in the Coopersville band program. Currently studying at Grand Valley State University, she is in her final semester before she will graduate with a Bachelor of Music Education with Performance Honors. While at Grand Valley, Ms. Petrenko had the opportunity in 2016 to perform as the featured soloist on soprano saxophone to Jennifer Higdon’s “Soprano Sax Concerto” with GV’s top ensemble, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble. She also had the privilege of touring the country this past summer with GV’s critically acclaimed New Music Ensemble on their National Parks Tour and performed world premieres at five different parks, venturing as far as Mt. Rainier! Ms. Petrenko has also travelled to many conferences, one at which she performed “wicked problems” by Niko Schroeder, a world premiere duet at the regional North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA). An avid enthusiast of all things regarding chamber ensembles, Ms. Petrenko coordinated an educational outreach tour across the state of Michigan for 3 consecutives years with her quartet, visiting over 30 school districts in total, with the goal of helping young musicians become invested and interested in chamber music. Apart from performing, Ms. Petrenko also facilitated a high school servant leadership camp at Grand Valley and teaches private lessons in the area. Putting aside music and teaching for the moment, Ms. Petrenko is a poetry nut, loves to read, and binge watches Netflix shows. She has also begun dabbling in French, is fluent in Russian, has gotten braces for the fourth time in her life (yikes!) and her favorite thing in the world is sharing a good laugh with friends.

Ms. Petrenko loves teaching music to students and has done so for as long as she can remember. She hopes that her students can be impacted by music in the same way that she was and that they can make meaningful connections and remain music lovers throughout their entire life. As the semester unfurls, she is excited to be conducting many of the ensembles and also to get to know the Coopersville students through their many concert band festivals, solo/ensemble festivals, and spring concerts that will come about. Mostly, she is most excited to just meet the students and get to know them each on an individual level. If you would ever like to contact her, the best way to reach her is through her email: petrenan@mail.gvsu.edu