Directors & Staff

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. 

Ms. Allessandra West is the Orchestra Director at Downers Grove North High School. This is Ms. West’s first year at DGN, and she is teaching Concert Orchestra, Symphonic Orchestra, Rock Band, and is co-teaching Concert and Symphonic Band. She is also one of the Illinois Music Honors Society faculty advisors at DGN. Prior to teaching at Downers Grove North, Ms. West taught at Metea Valley High School for three years. During her time at Metea Valley, she taught orchestra, orchestra technique, extra-curricular orchestral ensembles which perform film and pop music, music production, and was a Tri-M Music Honor Society faculty advisor. Prior to teaching at Metea Valley High School, Ms. West taught elementary and high school orchestra in Davenport, IA. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Music Education and Violin Performance from Augustana College in 2020, studying with Dr. Susan Stone.

Ms. West was recognized as one of ILMEA's Emerging Leaders of 2021, and presented at the Illinois Music Educator Conference in 2023. She is a member of ILMEA (Illinois Music Education Association) and ASTA (American String Teachers Association), and is a member of the Illinois ASTA Board. Ms. West was featured on the cover and in an article of the Illinois ASTA magazine, The Scroll in 2023. She is an active performer on violin, and played bass in the Augustana Symphonic Band for three years. Ms. West is a member of the Fox Valley Orchestra and the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra in the Chicagoland suburb area, and is Youth Mental Health First Aid certified. In her free time, she enjoys composing music and spending time with her friends and family.