With his guitar in hand, English teacher Mr. Robert Zakrzewski carries his love for music everywhere he goes.
Through his day-to-day life as an English teacher, playing the guitar is a creative outlet that allows Zakrzewski to put all else on pause.
“Music and my guitar have never been work for me. I love reading and writing, but it’s always been associated with work,” Zakrzewski said. “As I get older, sometimes I don’t want to read or write, but I never don’t want to play guitar. It can be very therapeutic for me.”
From a very young age, Zakrzewski has been drawn to music. Although there were no instruments at his house growing up, he found ways to enjoy it from afar.
“Long story short, when I graduated high school, someone finally gifted me a guitar. In some ways, I haven’t really put it down since,” Zakrzewski said.
Zakrzewski has never taken a guitar lesson, but he has gradually improved his skills by observing others at in-person performances and on YouTube.
“I’m not gonna blow anyone away, but something that my hand physically couldn’t do a couple months ago, I’ve worked to be able to do it. Seeing yourself improve is very satisfying and very rewarding,” Zakrzewski said.
With music being a big part of who Zakrzewski is, he finds encouraging his students to be creative in his English class is important. In return, he shares his creativity at school by performing at events such as Coffee House and International Day.
“We’re asking kids to get up there and share their talent, but sharing creativity is very vulnerable,” Zakrzewski said. “I feel like it’s only fair that if I’m asking you to do it, that every once in a while I do it too.”
In assisting with Mr. James Fischer’s Introduction to Guitar class, Zakrzewski makes it a point to teach the guitar technique from a standpoint that his students can relate to.
“A lot of the people in my class don’t really read notation, so he approaches teaching them from more of an angle of where the kids are coming from and where he was coming from when he was their age,” Fischer said.
Sharing and playing music with others is a meaningful form of connection that Zakrzewski has brought into his home, as his wife, Spanish teacher Ms. Pamela Kaneda, has been able to see firsthand.
“Music is probably what he gets the most enjoyment out of, and I think it is also a really beneficial thing for our kids. They just love when he will pick up the guitar and play a song from a TV show for them,” Kaneda said.
Zakrzewski has grown to see the benefits of finding consistency when practicing the guitar and can attest to it never getting old, as there is always more to learn.
“Even if it’s 15 minutes a day, your fingers will start doing things you didn’t think they could do,” Zakrzewski said. “They get a little harder. They get a little more flexible. You can kind of remake yourself in certain ways. Find ways that make you love it, and just keep at it.”
