BY ROD HANSEN

With years of experience as a musician, one local  teacher is seeing her dreams come true on a national level.

Georgia Paris, a Weare resident and fourth-grade teacher at Goffstown’s Maple Avenue Elementary School, has seen two of her songs reach runner-up status in an international Song of the Year Contest.

Contest details are outlined at the Web site www.songofthe year.com, and the list of judges includes Jon Bon Jovi, Shiela E. and Norah Jones.

Paris’s songs, which achieved runner-up status in November and December, are among 40 she’d had written over six weeks toward the end of last year.

“I try to write about things that are of interest to me, and that I can relate to in my own life,” Paris said.

She keeps all of her songs collected in a folder, and has the lyrics notarized after their composition.

Paris’s musical experience dates back to the late ’70s, and she had been singing in performing in various bands since then. A native New Yorker, she has taught in the Goffstown school system for 25 years, and currently participates in an informal jam session in Manchester with several local musicians.

Jackie Bellows, a pianist and bassist who plays with Paris in Manchester, said contests such as Song of the Year give composers important publicity.

“If you’re a songwriter, you want to get your work out there. You could get a recording contract, and the most important thing is that you get exposure for your work,” Bellows said.