At Boston Music Project, we are proud to have a board that reflects the students and communities we serve, with a shared commitment of bringing transformative music education to Boston youth. This week, we spotlight board members Graciela Briceno and Cynthia Soo Hoo, who share their favorite aspects of BMP!
Graciela Briceno has worked as a music teacher and strings program director for over 15 years. After completing New England Conservatory’s Sistema Fellows Program, she founded Boston Music Project (formerly Josiah Quincy Orchestra Program) in 2011. Under her leadership, BMP grew from 50 to 200+ students, including the Mozart Kindergarten Orchestra and Beethoven Ensemble for students with special needs. Over the years, Ms. Briceno has also worked as an education consultant and teacher trainer for Sistema programs globally, and was a co-founder of The World Ensemble. She studied Music Education at Boston University, and later earned an Ed.M. in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In addition to serving on BMP’s Board of Directors, she currently teaches and works in international education development for USAID in Washington, D.C.
Cynthia Soo Hoo was born and raised in Boston, where she grew up across the street from the Josiah Quincy Elementary School. Cynthia attended the Josiah Quincy as a student and later began her career there as an educator. She continued through the Boston Public Schools and graduated from the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. After high school, Cynthia completed a 5-year dual degree program in Elementary Education at Lesley College. After serving as a classroom teacher for a decade, she questioned how she could support more students than just those in her classroom - this led her to become an aspiring principal, where she completed her administrative certification through the Center of Collaborative Education’s Principal
Residency Network Program.
Cynthia was honored as one of Boston’s Educators of the Year and was the recipient of the Anne Dow award for Excellence and Creativity in 2013. Across her education career, her work has always focused on the whole child, building strong relationships among all stakeholders, and promoting the best practices in education. During her 18 years at the Josiah Quincy elementary school, she has served in many roles including the math and data facilitator; Instructional Math Coach; New Teacher Developer; Family and Community Outreach Liaison; Professional Development Coordinator; Academic Achievement Framework Coordinator; Interventionist; English as a Second Language Support; Inclusion Specialist; Lead Teacher; and currently the proud principal at her alma mater.
To learn more about our board, we invite you to check out their full bios on our Board of Directors page.