Eisenhower High School teacher Justin Antos has a knack for staying in tune with his students, and the national music industry is once again taking notice.
Antos, band director and music teacher at the school in Blue Island, was lauded by the Country Music Association for the second time in three years when the CMA Foundation recently announced 30 recipients for its Music Teachers of Excellence awards.
Ten winners are from public schools in and around Nashville. Another 10 hail from the rest of Tennessee. The remaining 10 are from the other 49 states, placing Antos in elite company. Stephanie San Roman, of Oswego High School, also made the list along with teachers from Texas, Michigan, California Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida.
Now in its eighth year, the program was created to recognize educators who are having the greatest impact on their students, using the power of music as an avenue for change, according to a news release.
The CMA Foundation arranged for 30 country music stars to make the announcement. Singer Alana Springsteen served up the surprise for Antos with a recorded announcement.
Antos was surprised earlier in May when “every administrator in the building came into my classroom unannounced,” he said. “I joked and asked if I needed my union rep.”
That’s when Springsteen’s video montage was played.
“She congratulated me, said ‘hello’ to the kids and talked about the award. … It was really cool,” Antos said.
Although he is “not a country guy,” Antos knows the CMA Foundation “has been a strong advocate for music in schools.”
“They do more than pretty much any nonprofit I’ve come across when it comes to bettering the music experience for kids in schools,” he said.
Each winning teacher receives a $5,000 grant. Half goes toward their classroom needs and music programs, and the other half will support personal expenses, a release said.
Antos also gets a medal and will attend a professional development day followed by a banquet for winners at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville on Sept. 17.
He was nominated by an unnamed Eisenhower student.
“I filled out the application that consisted of teaching videos, lesson plans, eight 500-word essays. Their panel reviews everything and I guess they liked what I sent,” Antos said. “It’s a rigorous thing.”
Eisenhower students can look forward to Antos being there for many years.
Thankfully, he said, music education and the band program at Eisenhower have recovered from the challenges of the pandemic.
“There are, of course, rough spots here and there. But the kids are committed, I think, more than ever. They realize what they didn’t have during the pandemic,” he said. As a result, “the excitement and enthusiasm in the program is more pronounced in the community.”
Yes, Antos, 38 of Frankfort, has a favorite instrument:
“Anything with percussion,” the father of two said.
He especially enjoys the challenge of reaching out to students new to music
“My mantra, so to speak, is compassion before curriculum. I feel that no student is able to devote 100 percent to anything until they first feel loved, encouraged and cared for. I try to make that a cornerstone of my classroom culture from Day One,” he said.
Antos is wrapping up his 15th school year at Eisenhower with no end in sight.
“(Administrators) were saying, ‘Oh, your resume is 10 pages long.’ I said ‘I haven’t updated my resume in 15 years because I’ve been that happy here.
“I’ll be a lifer here. It’s been a lot of fun. It made my job more enjoyable working with the families here in Blue Island and the kids.”
If you want to hear how his teaching turned out musically, you’ll have to wait until next school year. The Spring Concert was held April 26, Antos said.
“We’re in the sprint to the finish line at this point,” he said.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
