Faculty Focus: March 2025

I graduated from Canyon Del Oro High School in Tucson, AZ, and earned both a Bachelor and Master of Music in Jazz Studies and Percussion—first from Northern Illinois University, then from DePaul University.

Before joining Fenwick, I taught private lessons in drums/percussion, piano, and guitar through various schools and programs. I’ve also maintained an active career as a freelance drummer, percussionist, guitarist and singer. In addition to my role here, I am the Director of Contemporary Worship at Grace Lutheran Church of La Grange and teach jazz drum set at Wheaton College.

I recently finished “Chicago” by Brian Doyle, a novel that paints a vivid, enchanting portrait of the city and its characters. I’m now reading “Erasure” by Percival Everett, which inspired the film American Fiction. The movie’s writer-director, Cord Jefferson, is a fellow alumnus of my high school and a close friend of my brother’s, so following his journey from freelance journalist to Oscar-winning filmmaker has been inspiring. The book itself is smart, funny and refreshingly unconventional in its narrative structure.

Outside of Fenwick, my other musical roles mentioned above keep me quite busy. But I probably spend most of my time outside of school with my wife, Anna, and two kids, 6-year-old Jonah and 4-year-old Greta.

I played on my high school's volleyball team and was a student leader in our Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter. I also founded a club called The Political Spectrum, which had a brief but meaningful run, even hosting our congressman at one of our meetings. Despite my involvement in these activities, music took up most of my free time (just as it does now). I took private drum and percussion lessons, played in the Tucson Youth Philharmonia and the Arizona Jazz Academy, and even enrolled at the University of Arizona to participate in college jazz ensembles and music theory courses while still in high school. I also played in punk and metal bands with my friends and was active in my church's youth group.

I teach the two Percussion Ensembles and, along with Mr. Zelm, help direct the Pep Band.

What quality/characteristic marks a Fenwick student?

A Fenwick student has an understanding that education is meant to shape the whole person, not merely build academic skills and knowledge. Things like prayer, mass, service days, and retreats (not to mention eight semesters of Theology) help ingrain this value into students throughout their four years here.

One of the biggest challenges is the constant availability of entertainment and information, making it difficult to focus and engage deeply with any one thing. With so many distractions, knowing what truly matters takes intentionality. That said, I’m often encouraged to see students rise above this challenge, and I believe Fenwick is equipping them to navigate the modern world with wisdom and grace.

I knew that I wanted to be a professional musician from about the age of 15 years old. By that time, I was already teaching some drum lessons and found that I enjoyed sharing my knowledge and helping others learn this skill that was so fun and fulfilling for me. Most musicians balance performing and teaching, and I'm grateful that I truly enjoy doing both. After years of teaching one-on-one private lessons, I wanted to teach in the ensemble/classroom setting, and the opportunity to do so at Fenwick was exactly what I was looking for.

I'd like to think that I have a passion and curiosity about music that rubs off on my students. Additionally, I hope that I'm able to clearly and competently demonstrate the many varied techniques required for succeeding as a percussionist.

I am proud of the growth that the percussion program has seen since I started at Fenwick in 2017. Early on, there were years when we didn't have enough percussionists to cover all of the parts in the music. Now, we have more than enough, and I sometimes have to get creative in order to include everyone in the music-making. At our February concert this year, all of the percussionists from both classes played a beautiful winter-themed piece together -- a very satisfying and moving experience.