Director of Bands

Michelle Hastings

Mrs. Hastings is in her twenty-seventh year of teaching music, serving students from beginning band through the collegiate level. She currently oversees the band, chorus and color guard programs at Gifford Middle School in Vero Beach, Florida, where she is in her second year of service. Her professional passion is centered on middle school music education, specifically working with students in grades six through eight. Many of her students continue their musical development by participating in the Vero Beach High School Band of Indians or the Vero Beach High School Choir.

Prior to her appointment at Gifford Middle School, Mrs. Hastings taught at Oslo Middle School in Vero Beach; Martin County High School in Stuart, Florida; Gladewater Middle School in Longview, Texas; and Tioga Junior High School in Tioga, Louisiana. She earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1997 and a Master of Music degree in 2006 from Northwestern State University in Louisiana, where she studied under the direction of William E. Brent.

Mrs. Hastings maintains professional affiliations with the Florida Bandmasters Association, the National Association for Music Education, Sigma Alpha Iota National Music Fraternity, and the Indian River County Education Association. She resides in Port St. Lucie, Florida, with her husband, David, and their beagle, Maya. When Mrs. Hastings is not conducting band, chorus or color guard, she enjoys traveling with her husband and going to Walt Disney World with her friends and family.