BELCHERTOWN — A Belchertown music teacher has been selected as a quarterfinalist for the 2020 Grammy Music Educator Award.

Geoffrey Gould, a music teacher at Swift River Elementary School, is one of 189 teachers nationwide to make the cut for the quarterfinals. The quarterfinalists were chosen from a pool of more than 3,300 nominees.

“It’s very gratifying to know that I’m in a pool of people who are being seriously looked at as being people who take their craft seriously,” Gould said in an interview with the Gazette, “and who are all aiming and striving to create a better world around music education for our students.”

For Gould, making it to the quarterfinals is more than just a personal achievement. He’s been working to drum up excitement around the district’s music program, and the recognition has served as another opportunity to talk up the program’s advancements, such as the recent installation of a college-level piano lab. With the installation of the lab, which he spearheaded, all students will leave the elementary school with a basic piano education.