Mrs. Kocel has been teaching music to logic students at Valor since 2018. She received her Bachelor of Music in music therapy with a concentration in voice/piano from West Texas A&M University and spent 20 years in the field of music therapy working with both children and adults as well as teaching music privately and in school. She always felt more drawn to teaching, so when the opportunity to teach at Valor came up, there was no hesitation! She loves teaching her students to develop a love for music, no matter what their skill level is! Valerie is originally from Texas, but over the years she has lived in Ohio, Florida, Colorado and now Texas again! She and her husband Paul have been married for 15 years and have one spunky little girl along with 3 dogs, 2 cats and 9 chickens. Most of the time you can find Valerie doing her favorite things: singing, gardening, teaching Music Together® classes to itty bitties, avoiding large crowds, making lists, baking/cooking, helping her parents or playing the piano. Something most people don’t know about Valerie is that she loves doing impressions & funny voices, and her best one so far is Elmo.
