Accomplishments
ProfessionalWhile I have accomplished many things in my 17 years as a music educator, there is one specific professional accomplishment that will remain with me for my entire lifetime: Winning the 2014 Lakeshore Marching Band Association (LMBA) Class A Championship - the first ever for Saegertown High School.
I started my teaching career in 2001 at Saegertown Elementary and Jr./Sr. High Schools. There were very few elementary band students, the Sr. High Concert band had only seven members, and the marching band only had 15 members. As the band grew, I decided it was time to compete even though I had absolutely no competition experience. I took it upon myself to go to every professional development opportunity I could, talk with and learn from my fellow educators, and pick the brains of the adjudicators at all our competitions. I began to arrange the music for the marching band as well as design and write drill. The students and I never stopped learning from our successes and our failures. Then in 2014, it all came together for us. The show was entitled "We Are" and was based on a poem that I had written specifically for the show. Many of the students in the band had experienced suicides, cancer, and other life tragedies most high school students would never experience. Yet, they remained resilient, and I was inspired by them. The show paid homage to many shows from the past nine years of competition. We used music and drill from several different shows while infusing new material in a fresh and unique way. Students recited the poem in real time and embraced and embodied what the poem reflected. As all educators know, there is nothing in this world as rewarding as seeing the smiles, the tears, the hugs, the high-fives, and the expressions of exuberant joy on the faces of your students when they reach their ultimate goal. I had the opportunity to witness that joy, and it's truly a moment that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. |
|
PersonalMy greatest personal accomplishment has been my dedication to my weight loss journey.
I struggled with weight my entire life. However, I began a decent into food addiction and obesity starting in 2001 that led me to a weight gain of over 200 pounds. At my heaviest in 2015, I weighted 460 pounds. In 2015, both my wife and I elected to have bariatric weight loss surgery. This surgery entirely changed the way that I eat and think about food. No longer are the days where I lived to eat. I have a much healthier relationship with food and now I eat to live! To date, I have lost 165 pounds! Prior to my weight loss journey, I would breathe hard walking up a flight of steps, my joints were frequently in pain, my feet developed plantar fasciitis, and I could not keep up with my marching band students walking uphill from the football field to the school after a football game. Now, I work out twice a week with a personal trainer and in 2017, my wife and I trained to run a 5k race at Kennywood Park. This was our very first 5k race and we are very proud of all our accomplishments. I look forward to many more 5k races and other adventures in the future! |
|
Please feel free to click on yellow links throughout this portfolio for additional content!