Cimarron Wind Ensemble Band Program History

The award-winning Cimarron Municipal Schools’ Band program was established in the fall of 2000 by Band Director Pam Towry Church. Prior to 2000, the program had been in hiatus for several years. Enrollment in the Cimarron Municipal School District is approximately 400 students, K-12. To date, 78 students are enrolled in 5 concert band classes between Eagle Nest and Cimarron Middle Schools, and Cimarron High School. The northeastern New Mexico town of Cimarron has a population of 965. The population of the community of Eagle Nest is 276. Band members travel from a large geographic area to the schools they attend. Currently enrolled students live in the rural communities of Cimarron, Springer, Vermejo Park, Miami, Maxwell, Ute Park, Eagle Nest, Angel Fire, Black Lake and Red River. The school district encompasses a total of approximately 1400 square miles.

The Cimarron Wind Ensemble attended their first regional band competition in the spring of 2003. Their successful performance on stage and in the sight-reading room qualified them to attend the State Concert Band Contest, sponsored by the New Mexico Activities Association. Since that time, the band has earned the First Place trophy in their division (A-AAA) for twelve of the past fifteen years. They hold State Championship titles from 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018. In 2013, the band was awarded the third place trophy, and in 2005, 2016, and 2017 they were the State Runner-Up with a second place finish.

Pam Towry Church is in her 40th year as a music educator, having taught in Texas and Louisiana prior to coming to New Mexico in 1990. Ms. Towry holds a Master of Music degree in “Instrumental Conducting” from the University of Texas at Austin. She is Past President of the New Mexico Music Educators’ Association, Past- President of the North Central Music Educators’ District, and the New Mexico Chapter of Phi Beta Mu (Band Masters’ Fraternity.) She is the Percussion Facilitator for the state music educator’s Board of Directors, a past board member of “Music from Angel Fire”, and is currently a member of their Education Committee. Ms. Towry is a frequent adjudicator and clinician for school bands throughout the Southwest. Pam was the Los Alamos Public Schools’ “Teacher of the Year” for 1999, and the Cimarron High School National Honor Society’s “Teacher of the Year” in 2007 and 2011. She was awarded the New Mexico Music Educators Associations’ “Music Educator of the Year” award for 2011 and was inducted into the New Mexico Music Educators Association’s “Hall of Fame” in January, 2015.

Pam is a native of Dallas, Texas. She and her husband, Russell Church, reside in Red River, NM.