August 26th, 2013 To Whom It May Concern: Kari Hatfield is an exceptional educator and her commitment to service only

further exemplifies her character. I currently run the musical theater program at Texas State University and have been a professional actress on and off Broadway, in film, television and radio for over 25 years. I have been fortunate enough to work with Kari through the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. We co-chaired the Musical Theater Initiative, which is a scholarship competition for musical theater students across our region. Kari stepped in for me this past year, as I was unable to travel to the festival. It would not have possible for MTI to continue had it not been for her participation, and I mean that quite literally. The opportunity for the students to perform in this wonderful competition, and the $3,500 scholarship to the top performing arts musical theater summer camp would all have been cancelled if someone had not stepped up to the plate to run it in my absence. Kari Hatfield was that person. She not only assisted in every aspect of preproduction needed to ensure that the over 40 nominees could compete but also attended the festival and ran every aspect of the event over a two day period. It was an enormous amount of work. There were some challenging things she had to deal with along the way and at every turn she did what was best for the students. As a result, it was huge success and we have been asked to do it again this year. I also want to mention that I had a number of students at KCACTF competing, and when they returned home, I enquired about their overall experience at the festival. Unsolicited, they all spoke at great length about Kari and how wonderfully she ran and handled everything and how grateful they were for her presence. I have felt very blessed that Kari came into my life. One, because it meant that something that I had worked hard to create and cared deeply about was able to continue but also because Kari helped shape and improve the overall structure of the event. MTI is only going into its third year and thanks to Kari, it was a far improved experience for the students from the previous year as a direct result of all the work she did to hone and fine-tune all the aspects of its structure including reworking the criteria. I also greatly admire educators who are open to collaboration and working together as a community of educators, even if we are from different schools. It sets a wonderful example for our students in so many ways but it is also just an honor to serve with other educators like Kari who are interested in being the best they can be for their students and their programs. Kari helped me understand that part of the pay off of living that
DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE & DANCE 601 University Drive | San Marcos, Texas 78666-4616| office 512.245.2147 | box office: 512.245.2204 | WWW.TXSTATE.EDU This letter is an electronic communication from Texas State University-San Marcos, a member of The Texas State University System.

principle is that in sharing what we have to offer, and being able to support each other, wellit only makes us stronger. I am proud to call Kari Hatfield my colleague and I look forward to years of future collaboration in any opportunities that may present themselves.

Sincerely,

Kaitlin Hopkins
Kaitlin Hopkins Head of Musical Theatre Texas State University Department of Theatre and Dance Kh40@txstate.edu 512-245-6841 www.kaitlinhopkins.com