Mr. Jordan Markwood - Choral Dir. & Fine Arts Dept. Chair

Mr. Markwood is excited to be the choral director at Rock Ridge for its eighth year. He previously taught at Stone Hill Middle School for seven years before moving to Rock Ridge. Under Mr. Markwood's leadership as department chair, Rock Ridge has been consistently labeled a Blue Ribbon School for its superior performing groups in Band, Orchestra, and Chorus.

Mr. Markwood has a bachelor of music from Houghton College in Music Education with a concentration in voice. He graduated from Westminster Choir College of Rider University with a master of music in Vocal Pedagogy and Performance. He performed in several operas at Houghton College and was invited to the New York Vocal Institute on a full scholarship in 2006. He served as the director for a youth mission choir known as the Voices of Youth in the summer of 2010 and assistant director in 2004 and 2007. Mr. Markwood directed the Shenandoah Valley Chorus, a chapter of the Sweet Adelines in Winchester, VA from 2007-2013. He teaches private voice lessons and continued his own choral studies by assisting as the Tenor section leader in the Arts Chorale of Winchester and Vocal Consort from 2008-2014. In addition, Mr. Markwood served as the Worship Arts Coordinator at Round Hill United Methodist Church in Winchester, VA from 2007-2014.  He is now the Director of Music at Galilee UMC in Sterling, VA. Mr. Markwood was named the 2022 LCPS and Washington Post Teacher of the Year.