Bryan Itzkowitz

Bryan Itzkowitz is the Director of Bands at Holmes Middle School in Wheeling, Illinois. He became interested in becoming a music educator in eighth grade when his band director gave him the opportunity to run rehearsals for a piece of music he had become interested in; he even got to conduct the piece at the next concert. Due to the large percentage of Latino and Spanish-speaking students and families associated with Holmes Middle School, Mr. Itzkowitz made the decision to travel to Costa Rica for a month and a half and Peru for two months to learn Spanish so that he could create a better bridge of communication between him and the students and their families. He has also made strides to keep students engaged and interested in music by introducing them to cultural music that helps connect heritage to learning.