[2] She graduated Magna Cum Laude and was part of the music fraternity Sigma Alpha Iota, from which she received a scholarship award.
[4] Lightfoot held the position for 25 years before she became the founding editor of an educational choral series designed for school-aged choirs called "Sing!
[6] Lightfoot's "The Swing" was used as part of a sample choral lesson plan in Sally C. Brown's A Comparative Study of Current Practices of Selected University-Based Children's Chorus Directors in Relation to Arts Integration.
[8] In Janet M. Hostetter's Tone Production, Musicianship Training, Repertoire Development, Performance Practice: A Pedagogical Overview of Selected International Children’s Choirs, Lightfoot is identified as a notable composer and influence in the educational choral space.
Her piece, "This Shall be Music," was the subject of a review by Judith Carman where it was dubbed "tuneful" and noted for how well it would fit the adolescent voices it was written for.
"[14] In her series of choral reviews, Sharon Gratto praised "The Arrow and the Song" highlighting specifically how the harmonies maintain the feeling of the text and the effectiveness of the piano line.