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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Jemison Middle School Principal Christy Mims’ decade of dedication to the band programs in Jemison has not gone unrecognized, winning the 2025 Administrator of the Year from the Alabama Music Educators Association. Mims was selected from a pool of nominees from schools across Alabama that included other principals, assistant principals, superintendents and other administrative staff.

Jemison Middle School band director Charlie Mercier and Jemison High School band director Dakota Bromley nominated Mims for the award after seeing her dedication to help grow and stabilize the band programs at both schools. Mims said she was shocked to learn she won the award because she did not know the two band directors nominated her for it. She added that with being a leader in the school, it means a lot to her that the two have enough respect for her to nominate her.

“It is a special honor,” Mims said. “I have been here long enough to see this band program grow, and we are very excited that we have such strong support from our parents for our school and kids. I cannot take all the credit, it goes to (Bromley and Mercier) and they do all of the work. It has been a great opportunity to work with them and watch our band program grow.”

Bromley has been at JHS for 11 years and worked with Mims when she was the assistant principal there. Mercier has worked with Mims for four years since he took over the middle school band director position. Mercier has had the help of Mims with scheduling in a big way, such as scheduling around the band classes and allowing him to have his students in class every day for 85 minutes, even though it is off of the traditional block schedule of JMS. Mims creates the schedule after receiving the band roster so Mercier can have all of his students whenever he needs them.

“She won this award because of how supportive she is of our band program,” Mercier said. “If I need anything pertaining to the schedule, she makes it happen.”

While assistant principal at JHS, Mims helped Bromley advocate for a full-time middle school band director position. There was once only a half-day band director for grades sixth through eighth. Mims worked for several years until a full-time middle school position was created in 2018 that Mercier now holds.

Also, in 2018, the process began to create two new band rooms for JMS and JHS students. The band room was around 800 square feet, and as the program grew, the classes were exceeding the fire code in the building each time they were held. Mercier was sometimes forced to teach JMS band classes in the cafeteria due to there being only one band room for both schools to share. Mims started advocating for the new band room project while at JHS, and she continued that when she moved to JMS. In 2022, a new, larger space was added to the existing one, and there were two separate band rooms created — one for JMS and one for JHS.

“A lot of credit for the new space belongs to Mrs. Mims for her advocacy at an administrative level,” Mercier said.

All of the support Mims has shown the band programs has contributed to the growing participation numbers as well. The programs together bolster around 250 students. The middle school program, consisting of seventh and eighth graders, has around 130 students, which is around 40% of the entire JMS student body. Nearly half of the seventh graders at JMS chose to join the band, and 34% of the eighth graders did.

Mims credited Mercier for going over to Jemison Intermediate School to recruit kids before they get to JMS, and focusing on the fundamentals of band before turning them over to Bromley at the high school level.

“Band is alive and well in Jemison due to the hard work of myself, Dakota Bromley and the support of people like Christy Mims,” Mercier said. “That is why she won that award.”

Mims’ dedication to the band programs stem from her belief that each student needs something to do to keep them involved with school. Some schools have athletics that the majority of the student body do, some have FFA programs that students gravitate towards. Jemison has its band programs, and support from administration like Mims has helped it become the go-to activity for a large portion of JMS and JHS students.

“I feel like the kids in our community need to be actively involved in school, and if they have a joy or passion for something, that is going to increase their attendance, help in their academics and make them feel like a part of the school and community,” Mims said. “A lot of times, these kids just need something extra in their life, and there is so much they can learn from it … Whether it is band, athletics or any type of extracurricular program, our kids need that.”

Mims will be officially recognized for the 2025 Administrator of the Year Award at the Alabama Music Educators Association Conference on Jan. 23-25, 2025.