Mentors

I am blessed to have been guided throughout my personal and professional life by some incomparable mentors. In order to properly respect the influence these people have had in my ongoing development as a human and an educator, I strive to live each day in observance of their teaching. Everything I have to offer my students was offered to me through these mentors.

I am grateful to:

for inspiring me to seek the better teacher inside me

for propelling me to become that better teacher, and showing me how

Shirley and Geoff Craven

for lovingly supporting every choice I ever made

for opening my eyes to the joy of musical leadership, and inspiring my choice to teach

for patiently showing me how it should be done for 20 years

Fred Hagen

for starting my journey

for believing I could play the saxophone

for setting the bar so incredibly high

for making it easy to believe in myself

for the inimitable contributions to what I know and who I am

for the kindness, encouragement, and beautiful inspiration

Susie Craven

for everything, always