Mandy Traylor Cavanaugh is a graduate of Wheaton College Conservatory of Music in Wheaton, IL where she studied music education, conducting, piano, and voice. She serves as Chorus Director and Guitar Teacher at Carnage Middle School.  In her 12 years of teaching, she has found her joy in middle school Chorus. Middle school is the time when students discover new abilities, talents, and interests that they will continue to pursue as they grow older. Mrs. Cavanaugh finds her passion in leading students on this journey of musical discovery!

Mrs. Cavanaugh is active in her professional development, maintaining memberships in the American Choral Directors Association and North Carolina Music Educators Association. She served as a guest lecturer at ACTABS in Houston, TX in 2013. She also served as guest music educator at MBEWAU Academy in Mombasa, Kenya in the summer of 2013.

Mrs. Cavanaugh's teaching skills are supported by extensive performance and collaboration experience. Her choral background includes early studies under Dr. Lynne Gackle and Dr. Sandy Babb in Gulf Coast Youth Choirs, participating in five ACDA conventions as well as the Heritage Festival of Gold and the Beijing International Choral Festival. At Wheaton College, she studied with Dr. Mary Hopper and Dr. Paul Wiens, and sang with the Wheaton Women’s Chorale and the Wheaton Concert Choir.

Mrs. Cavanaugh has been singing with Schola Cantorum at Christ Church on Capitol Square in Raleigh since 2017, as well as the Raleigh Bach Soloists.

In 2025, Mrs. Cavanaugh directed the Carnage Honors Chorus at the NCMEA Conference, one of the highest honors an NC middle school choir can achieve. In 2026, she was nominated for the NCMEA Keasler Teacher of the Year Award.

When she’s not teaching or singing, Mrs. Cavanaugh enjoys spending time with her husband, gardening, playing board and video games, and whitewater rafting in the Great Smoky Mountains.