High school teachers can be crucial mentors for the kind of talented students that the Frost School of Music aims to attract. And the annual Super Teachers Weekend, organized by the Admissions Department, is a key bridge to those instructors and their students.
This year, eight teachers and leaders from top arts high schools and youth orchestras around the country visited the Frost School campus from March 26 to 29. They observed classes and ensembles, connected with faculty, spoke with students, and gained an in-depth understanding of the unique, first-class music education offered at the Frost School.
“It’s an opportunity to showcase everything we’re doing here at the Frost School,” said director of admissions Dominic Castillejo, who reinvigorated Super Teachers Weekend last spring after a hiatus of several years caused by the pandemic and other factors. “They get to know each other and understand our programs, our majors, our ensembles. They get to interact with our students. They really get a 360-degree view of what happens day to day.”
This year’s Super Teachers were Michael Jacko, head of the music conservatory and the orchestral program at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas, one of the country’s top public arts schools; Joshua Davis, director of popular music and a singer-songwriting instructor at the renowned Interlochen School of the Arts in Michigan; Sarah Cline, director of Berkeley High Jazz, the acclaimed jazz program at the Bay Area high school; Veeresh Popat, a Frost School jazz pedagogy alumnus and director of the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, South Carolina; Rachel Brown, chair of the music department at the Chicago Academy for the Arts; and Mellasenah Edwards, head of the music department at the Baltimore School for the Arts. David Hattner, music director of the Portland Youth Philharmonic; and Huifang Chen, music director of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony (and associate conductor of the South Florida Symphony), also attended.
Castillejo stays in touch with Super Teachers year-round, fostering relationships with a growing network of high school teachers. “We’re keeping that communication open between admissions, Super Teachers, and the faculty,” he said. Last year, Julius Tolentino, an accomplished jazz saxophonist and director at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s High School Jazz Academy, hit it off with the Frost School jazz faculty; one of his students was admitted this year.
Super Teachers are often chosen based on faculty recommendations. Last year, assistant professor Raina Murnak, of the Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship program, recommended Joe Cantaffa, an instructor in the entertainment technology program in the Fine & Performing Arts Center at Howell High School in New Jersey, who also oversees The RockNRoll Chorus, a high school vocal ensemble that performs and records with major artists. The connection led to the Frost School sponsoring a banner on one of the chorus’s tour trucks, and several of Cantaffa’s students auditioned.
Castillejo also ensures his guests can socialize with each other and with Frost School faculty. This year, Super Teachers were treated to a welcome dinner at Ibis House, the architectural showcase that is the official residence of the president of the University of Miami; another at the Rusty Pelican, the historic Key Biscayne venue overlooking the water; and a lunch with faculty.
“We showcase not only the Frost School of Music but the city and the area,” said Castillejo.
