Recognizing Those Who Led Me to Become Recognized

By Mr. Andrew Jones, Music Teacher at Air Force Academy High School

No one wants to follow in their parents’ footsteps identically. However, my parents, Anthony and Camille Jones, are my rock—and I am who I am because of their influence. My dad was my elementary school music teacher, and my mom is now a CPS teacher as well.

So, I guess you could say they are a big part of how I ended up where I am. However, I haven’t been a teacher my entire career.  My friend Jeanine Rainey, another Golden Apple Scholar, helped me get my first teaching position in 2010.  This was a culture shock, pivoting to teaching after being the lead singer in the US Air Force regional band. I then joined Air Force Academy in 2013 and I’m grateful for the mentorship of Dr. CPT Yashika Tippett, who has helped me mature as an educator.

Serving in the Air Force band afforded me the opportunity to learn from my conductor, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Mench, and it was like sitting in on a masterclass for five years straight. Now, as my school’s band director, our Drum and Bugle Corps consistently places among the top JROTC ensembles in Chicago.

You may see us perform at one of the city’s many festivals and parades, from the Chicago Memorial Day Parade and the Chinese Lunar New Year Parade—to the historic Bud Billiken Day Parade.

My military experience also taught me a lot about discipline. Being the only non JROTC teacher at my school who has been in the Air Force allows me to build a different kind of relationship with my students, and I use that as the backbone of my responsibility to help guide my students toward their next steps.

There are many skills that I want my students to take away from my class, but the top one is empathy. I always remind my students that we wouldn’t want to be judged by our worst day, and we should extend that same grace to others. Dr. Carolyn “Mama C” Cyriaque, another teaching mentor of mine, helped me come to this understanding.

Of course, on the academic side, I hope cadets leave my class knowing how to sight-sing. Maybe they’re on the train one day and apply solfège to the tone that plays when the doors close. If they’re in my Drum and Bugle Corps, I hope they can graduate with some medals and be able to say that they won a few city-wide competitions.

When I learned that I was named a Golden Apple finalist, it felt like a full-circle moment for me, because I was inducted into the Golden Apple Scholars program back in 2001. I have great respect for Dom Belmonte, my first Golden Apple Scholars teacher. He made me write a song back then, and when I was discouraged and wanted to leave the profession, that song reminded me why I chose to do this.

I also need to acknowledge Jim Sorensen, my lifelong mentor through the program,  who allowed me to come into his classroom and teach as a teenager. It was a big risk on his part, but I believe I’m a stronger teacher now from that experience. There are so many others who were crucial to my growth and development, such as my high school choral director (Bob Hillhouse) and my undergrad professor (Dr. Linda Pincham), and I try to tell them that as often as possible.

Now it’s my turn to be a mentor. I’m excited, grateful, and humbled.  I hope this opens doors for more men of color to pursue careers in education. We are underrepresented, which is why I see this honor as an opportunity to inspire more than a trophy for my own career.

Mr. Jones has loved ones who are teachers all over Illinois, including an aunt who retired from the Air Force and now teaches in East St. Louis. Before deciding that he wanted to become a teacher just like his parents, he thought he would grow up to be a pediatrician.