Kathleen Stebal is a first year PhD student in Music Education at the University of Michigan. For the past ten years, she taught orchestra at Perrysburg Schools, where she began her career. Kathleen currently teaches 7th and 8th grade orchestra at Perrysburg Junior High School. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she conducts the Toledo Symphony Youth Orchestra Concert Strings. A violinist since age three, Kathleen studied with Vasile Beluska and Merwin Siu and performs regularly in the Northwest Ohio region, including with her band Freight Street. She is actively involved as a member of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and was published in the February 2021 edition of the American String Teacher Journal. She was awarded the Ohio String Teachers Association New Teacher of the Year in January 2020. Kathleen is actively involved as a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA), having completed her Suzuki training with Edward Kreitman. She is actively involved as a member of the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) as an adjudicator and District 1 Junior High Honors Orchestra chair. Kathleen holds degrees in Music Education from Bowling Green State University and University of Michigan.