Joliet Young Musicians Mentor Band offers free 2-week summer program

Band students: Register now for the 2024 Joliet Young Musicians Mentor Band.

The free two-week program, hosted by Legacy Fine Arts Inc. NFP and Joliet Township High School District 204, is geared toward students in sixth through 12th grade, said Don Stinson, a Joliet Central High School alumnus, director of bands at Joliet Central and founder of Legacy Fine Arts.

“All participants will enjoy great music, with middle schoolers gaining confidence and high schoolers earning service hours and learning to lead,” Stinson said in a written statement.

During the first week, professional adult teachers lead the sectionals and rehearsals with the assistance of high school assistants, Stinson said. In week two, the high school students take the lead, and the adults assist them.

This provides high school mentors for the junior high school students and adult mentors for the high school students, Stinson said.

“By the time we are done, our high school kids get some real leadership experience, and the junior high kids get to meet a lot of new people in the area to play music with,” Stinson said in the statement.

It gave me a new environment to play in. And it gave me a lot of mature role models to look up to. And it just gave me a visual representation of what I could be if I put the work in. That was very inspiring for me.”

—  Tony Toledo, 20, of Joliet, a Joliet Central alumnus and former student in the Joliet Young Musicians Mentor Band

Legacy Fine Arts has not offered this program since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Julie Jaskowiak, a flutist and task force sub at Joliet Central, served as a mentor with Joliet Young Musicians Mentor Band before the pandemic and plans to return for the 2024 program.

Jaskowiak said she has two roles as a mentor: She helps the junior high school students with their work and helps the high school students learn to help younger students.

“I love how the junior high students respond to the high school students,” Jaskowiak said. “I really love watching the high school students become exicted about being teachers. And I really love how they pass on the excitement they have for being in band to the younger kids.”

Another benefit is that junior high students already will know some of the high school band members when they become Joliet Central students, Jaskowiak said.

“This, to me, is a giant win when you’re coming into a giant band at a giant high school,” Jaskowiak said.

Tony Toledo, 20, of Joliet, participated in the Joliet Young Musicians Mentor Band when he was a Joliet Central student. Toledo, a trumpet player, said the experience lifted him “to the next level” with his music.

“It gave me a new environment to play in,” Toledo said. “And it gave me a lot of mature role models to look up to. And it just gave me a visual representation of what I could be if I put the work in. That was very inspiring for me.”

Toledo said that youth musicians typically learn from adults who are significantly older than they are. His mentors with the Joliet Young Musicians Mentor Band were sometimes only two or three years older than he was, he said.

“It has something for everyone,” Toledo said. “Everyone should take advantage of it.”

The 2024 Joliet Young Musicians Mentor Band still needs students, mentors and sponsors. The registration deadline is May 24.

To register or for information, visit legacyfinearts.org.