Jessen T. Smith has been the Director of Bands at Downers Grove North High School since 2018. Born and raised in Iowa, he spent 5 summers playing trumpet with the Colt Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps and 4 summers with the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps. He went on to study trumpet performance and earn a Bachelor's degree music education at DePaul University in Chicago, and returned to earn his Master's degree in music education in 2023. He started his teaching career as the interim Director of Bands at University High School and the interim assistant band director Thomas Metcalf School in 2017. Jessen has also worked with multiple drum and bugle corps, most recently with the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps in 2023, as a member of the visual staff, and with the Spirit of Atlanta in 2021. He is a drill writer and music arranger for high school marching bands across the Midwest, and has served as the District 1 Senior Band Representative for the Illinois Music Education Association. 

Ms. Gina Wych joined Downers Grove North High School as Fine Arts Department Chair in 2023. She spent the first 15 years of her career teaching band and a wide variety of general music classes at Minooka Community High School in Minooka, IL. Ms. Wych holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Master's degree in Teacher Leadership from Concordia University Chicago, is currently working on upper level administration certification at the University of St. Francis, and will be starting a doctoral program in Music Education at Boston University in 2024. She currently serves in her second term as as Junior/Senior General Music Division President for the Illinois Music Education Association. Ms. Wych is passionate about making music education meaningful and accessible to ALL students. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband, two children, dogs, chickens, ducks, and tortoise. 

Shane Nelson graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he earned his Bachelors of Music Education with a concentration in instrumental music. There, he studied percussion with William Moersch and Ricardo Flores. In addition to percussion, he studied drumset with Drew Cox as part of the jazz percussion studio. While at UIUC, he participated in multiple bands, orchestras, jazz ensembles, percussion ensemble, steel band, and played snare in the Marching Illini Drumline. Prior to Downers Grove, Mr. Nelson taught in Chicago Public Schools at Curie Metro High School where he taught band and general music as well as Oswego East High School where he was an assistant band director.

Mr. Nelson is passionate about performing as a percussionist and drumset player around the Chicagoland area. When he is not playing or teaching music, Mr. Nelson enjoys working on his project car, hiking, playing video games, and going to concerts!