Mr. Gage Brown is only 22 years old. Most people his age are still figuring out what they want to do with their lives. Not him. At 22, Mr. Brown already knows his calling: teaching. It’s a passion he plans to pursue for the long haul.

Mr. Brown is from Kansas City, Missouri, and attended Kansas City public schools. Reflecting on his education, he said, “I went to a pretty non-affluent school in elementary school, socioeconomically, but in middle school and high school I went to a middle-class school.”

After high school, he attended the University of Missouri–Kansas City, where he pursued a degree in music education. Looking back, he said, “I can’t believe I got through it.” He described UMKC as the perfect place to develop as a teacher, describing it as the strongest music education program in the state.

Before graduating from college, Mr. Brown had already decided that he wanted to teach band. After many offers, he decided to leave Kansas City, and Chaminade was the place for him. Most importantly, like every single 22-year-old, “Well, I needed a job,” he said with a smile. He specifically chose Chaminade, because he used to assist in Church music during high school. “I was able to do something through God, which was important. This place [Chaminade] was a good place for me to extend that.”

He currently teaches beginning band for middle school and high school, which is a separate class. Starting his career at Chaminade brought many different culture shocks, surprises, and challenges to Mr. Brown. For example, he said, “On picture day, I was mistaken for the first student.” Throughout his first weeks, Mr. Brown has had a positive experience with his colleagues.

He stated, “Everybody here has been super supportive once they find out I am a teacher. It’s just a misconception. It takes 30 seconds to say, ‘No, I actually teach here.’ After those 30 seconds of misunderstanding, an insightful conversation emerges. I am able to learn a lot from them.”

Through his experiences, Mr. Brown has noticed significant differences in the attitudes, home lives, and experiences of students between his education in Kansas City and his time teaching at Chaminade. He emphasizes that while the systems may differ, a student’s character isn’t determined by their background. As he explained, “There are differences in terms of the mindset each kid has each day. But kids are kids. It doesn’t matter where you’re from; a good student is going to be a good student no matter what. This can affect their home life, but it doesn’t change their character.”

His teaching philosophy relies on one common theme: fun. Having fun is what keeps his students motivated, engaged, and enrolled in band class year after year. He stated, “I want to keep it fun, but not hold anyone hostage.” He encourages himself, people around him, and his students to keep on asking questions. “Your best answer comes after asking a question…If I think I have an answer to something, it will never hurt to ask a follow-up question…Asking a question before giving your final answer helps a lot.”

Before he decided to attend and become a band teacher, he considered becoming a music therapist. “I did not know I wanted to be a band teacher until my last year of high school, in February. I was very convinced that I was going to be a therapist, a music therapist.”

But in his senior year of high school, he made up his mind. “Both my parents are teachers and they taught special education in North Kansas City, in an inner-city district. I went in on a take your child to work day, which I might have been too old for, and they let me come in to teach a music lesson, and so I got to do some stuff with shakers and other instruments, and after this, I decided that this is why I am on this planet…This is why God put me here: to teach music…I knew I wanted to teach music of some kind.”

From his first days teaching at Chaminade, Mr. Brown grew into his role as a teacher and learned some valuable concepts on why teaching band is so exciting. “That first sound is as blank a canvas as you could have. Band is one of those things with a blank canvas; it is the skill you learn in sixth grade, even though it takes skills from earlier. With a beginning band, we begin the ladder of learning music. For the most part, you get to plant the seed, grab the very first rung of whatever you are climbing. You get to set them on a path. This inspires students to keep on going.”

Mr. Brown has learned to embrace his new home city. He stated, “Depends on the part…The roads are about the same, the food is about the same, but the air quality is about the same.”

In everything he teaches, everything he does connects to character building, curiosity, sparking ideas that keep his students’ love for music long past Chaminade, and has quickly grown into his new position and will continue to for years to come by adapting to new technologies and teaching techniques that will keep his students engaged for years to come.