After getting a bachelor's degree in Music Education from Webster University, Mr. Thomas Schwartz began his music education career at the start of the 2005-2006 school year in the Hazelwood School District. He taught kindergarten - sixth grade general music at Lusher Elementary School. After 2 years of teaching at Lusher, Mr. Schwartz seized the opportunity to fulfill a life-long dream and transferred to a brand new middle school, Hazelwood Central Middle School; and built their band program from the ground up.
During his time at HCMS, Mr. Schwartz developed successful concert and jazz band programs, started a guitar class and World Music Drumming club, and was recognized by his peers as "Teacher of the Year" during the 2009-2010 school year. After 8 years at Hazelwood Central Middle, Mr. Schwartz was recruited to Russell Elementary School. Even though he was no longer teaching band, he felt it important that he continue to educate a younger generation of students and give them the foundation they would need to become successful musicians.
During his 3 years at Russell, Mr. Schwartz revived the music program, leading the students in numerous highly successful concerts and DARE graduation performances. He produced an award winning Veterans' Day assembly. Mr. Schwartz also played an instrumental role in creating, organizing and executing "The Underground Railroad Experience," an annual event that involving the school community (students, parents, teachers, administrators) in which the entire school gets transformed into a walkthrough exhibit of life on the Underground Railroad. The event has been an enormous community success with wait times averaging 2 hours just to get inside the school to be a part of this life changing experience. During the 2017-2018 school year, Mr. Schwartz was recognized by his colleagues with the "Emerson Excellence in Teaching" Teacher of the Year award.
Mr. Schwartz made a life changing decision and switched to the Webster Groves School District at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year. As the general music teacher at Clark Elementary School, Mr. Schwartz has enjoyed a busy, but fun first school year where he is pushing himself to become an even better teacher on a daily basis!
In addition to teaching music, Mr. Schwartz is also a freelance bass trombone and tuba player in the St. Louis area. He has been lucky enough to play many different genres of music and with groups such as: The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Webster University Orchestra, Washington University Orchestra, St. Louis Brass Band, Genesis Jazz Project, and many brass choirs, quintets, quartets and pit orchestras around St. Louis!
Mr. Schwartz has been happily married to his wife, Sarah, also a music teacher in the area, for 13 years. They have two beautiful daughters, Amelia and Lily, who love to read and are very talented musicians. Amelia plays the piano and harp, and Lily plays the piano! The family has a Havanese dog named Kit Kat, a cat named Midnight, and two guinea pigs named Shelby and Hershey. In his limited spare time, Mr. Schwartz loves to spend time with his family, watch the Blues and Cardinals on TV, build legos with his daughters, run, cook bbq and collect vintage Weber grills!