Today it is easy to get lost among the tragic stories that we live in our community, but last May 11, 2023, the Beach Park IL community experienced an event that is worthy of being recognized and published, with the hope that stories like that of Professor Jennifer Grabot will inspire new generations to commit to working to improve our community. The teacher has dedicated twenty seven years of her life to teaching and directing the Beach Park City Middle School bands. The professor has managed to inspire several generations to stay out of trouble through music and get many of these boys to forge a better future one note at a time.
Last Thursday, May 11, 2023, the last concert of the year was held at Beach Park Middle School and the group of parent volunteers decided to take this occasion to celebrate Mrs. Jennifer Grabot in her last concert as band director. The concert was attended by 119 students, colleagues, parents and Superintendent Dr. Denise Wilcox made the official announcement and thanked her for all years of service. At the end of the concert students from past generations arrived to be led by the teacher once again and mark the end of a successful career as principal and now we all wish her success in her new role as Assistant Principal at Beach Park Middle School. It was a very emotional and emotional concert for a legend in school music.
Professor Grabot graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 1994, with a degree in music, she began working with the Beach Park school district doing summer camps. After graduating she worked two years at the Catholic school in Effingham Illinois. But being originally from Lake County, she had the illusion of returning and finding work at a high school, believing it would be easier to work with older children. Talking to the teacher she told me the story of how she got to Beach Park “After working in summer camps, the district offered me a permanent position in middle school, but my dream was to work in a high school so I turned down the one, but the superintendent asked me to take two weeks to think about it, after two weeks and seeing that I did not receive offers from high schools I decided to accept the offer to work in middle school and that is already twenty seven years ” In 2002 she took the baton of the band when the teacher who served as director before her retired. The teacher continued to prepare herself to be able to offer her best; she has taken classes at the Vandercook School of Music and in 2010 she completed her master’s degree in Administration and Lidership in Bernedictine University.
Professor Grabot has always had a great commitment to the children who choose to be part of the district’s music program, she also shows that commitment to families and especially to her co-workers. During our interview she let me know how important a sense of community is to her and in her own words “interaction with the community has been the most important thing to me”
Our district went through a few years of mismanagement and…
Will continue the next edition

We were fortunate that she decided to stay rather than look for another school. The music program is one of the best programs that the school has and the teacher provides the opportunity to take students on different trips, these are focused on attending competitions so that children get the experience, but at the same time gives them opportunities to have fun and enjoy a few days out of the city. For her, these trips are important because they promote a sense of brotherhood among the band members and serve as a reward for the children’s efforts. The music program not only has trips, it also offers a summer camp, in which children have the opportunity to live with each other and at the same time improve their skills in music. The school has a group of parent volunteers who help the teacher organize all the events, but despite everything, she is always aware of the needs of the children.
The teacher has managed to keep a good rhythm through the years, making many children improve their own song called “life”. When asked about the prizes obtained she told me “We have several first places that we have won in the competitions and some second places, but for me the experiences that children live on every competition are more important than the prizes”
The Beach Park community has a very high percentage of families whose first language is Spanish, 57% of the students are Hispanic and the teacher understands the need of these families. She took the initiative to learn Spanish, as many of the parents whose children are part of the band speak Spanish. When I asked her why he decided to learn Spanish his answer was very revealing “As teachers our commitment is to unite the community and not to separate it, by not taking into account people who do not speak English we are splitting our community, a good band must play together to achieve a good sound and a good community of being unity to be able to be strong” When she decided Learning Spanish, she understood the difficulties that our Hispanic community goes through when not being able to communicate due to lack of English. She also told me an anecdote that helped her see the need to speak more than one language “I made a trip to Europe with my daughter and we realized that in European countries people speak more than one language in sometimes more than two languages and I do not understand why in the United States we only want to speak one language” Her way of thinking is very important since we are living a In a very globalized market, it is important that our children are not left behind and have the same opportunities that bilingualism offers.
Professor Garabot has achieved many goals with the school band, she feels very proud of her work and very grateful to have been part of the lives of so many students who have passed through her music room. Her work with the district has been so important that after twenty seven years, she finally decided to pass the music program to the next generation of director, but not to retire, but to support and help improve the school in a different role, from being a teacher to operating as an administrator. The first impression is that we lose a great teacher and musician, but on the other hand we gain a great administrator. Talking to her I asked her why she decided to accept the job in the offices, her answer was “Working with the children in the music program only managed to influence a small part of the students, working from the office could have a better influence on most of the students” There is something I am sure of either from the music room with the baton in my hand or from an office. With the school rules, she will continue to be an important part of the school and our community.
Profesor Grabot also told me that before as a teacher she always had the door open for her students in case they needed help or some kind of support, now as an administrator she has the opportunity to have the door of her office open for all students and that they know that there is someone who cares about them and who is willing to listen to them. This is one of the reasons why she became a teacher as she wanted to have a positive influence on the students around her. She is also proud of the new administration that the school and the school district has, and above all she is eager to continue improving the way the school works, she told us that “this last year the district is improving problems of the past. We don’t know what’s coming around the corner, but I can guarantee that in my new roles I will be working to make changes and make sure these changes are for the benefit of children. Working with the group that is in charge of the school I feel very sure that good things are coming and we will finally leave the bad behind.” She is also sure that she left the music program in good hands and believes that there will be no problems, nor will the level achieved by the children be affected, so she felt free to start this new stage in her career.
At Beach Park Middle School the music program is very prominent andI comment that it is thanks to the fact that all the people involved in the program have a great commitment to the betterment of children. When the band goes out to the competitions they usually always get the first or second place “The band program has had the director who was before me who lasted thirty-three years and then with me that lasts twenty-seven years The children have had perseverance and the necessary support to achieve a very good musical band. At the end of the day what makes a band great are the elements that form it, we have always done our best to keep students focused on music, as in everything there are cases in which we can not do anything, but it was not for not trying. For me as a music director and time as an administrator, the main thing is the children. The music program is full of stories and anecdotes, some funny others sad, but we always try to ensure the future of the children and that they value the work they do every day.
Today seeing the school from the offices and not as a teacher, do you believe that it is what the district needs to be better “It is a very difficult task since the school is like a very large and complex machine, with many pieces which must work at an almost precise pace, but I think we are on the right track” The teachers, Students and administrators must make commitments to work and give our best, so that we can keep the school at a good level.
If today a magic rod was found that would allow you to carry a message to all the parents of the district which would be “I would ask that we all become bilingual and above all that we stay united, that we open our hearts to understand our neighbor, that we stop dividing our community and achieve happiness” We are working on maintaining better communication with the families we serve and letting the children know that we are in a position where we are willing to do whatever it takes to make the school safe and maintain a proper learning environment.
The fact that the teacher left the classroom was received with mixed feelings, but luckily she does not leave the school, she only decided to help in a new position. She gave several students the opportunity to experiment with new instruments and they achieved a success worthy of applause, hopefully with this opportunity she has to develop new skills and combine them with experience, she will give us a school that is able to function with the same precision and rhythm with which the Beach Park middle school band has sounded through the generations that made it great.
Last Thursday, May 11, 2023, the last concert of the year was held at Beach Park Middle School and the group of parent volunteers decided to take this occasion to celebrate Mrs. Jennifer Grabot in her last concert as band director. The concert was attended by 119 students, colleagues, parents and Superintendent Dr. Denise Wilcox made the official announcement and thanked her for all years of service. At the end of the concert students from past generations arrived to be led by the teacher once again and mark the end of a successful career as principal and now we all wish her success in her new role as Assistant Principal at Beach Park Middle School. It was a very emotional and emotional concert for a legend in school music.