We are thrilled to welcome Chris Janowiak as the new state coordinator for the Michigan Ambassadors of Music. Chris experienced his first Ambassadors trip nearly 20 years ago and has been involved in the tour ever since, bringing a genuine passion for sharing the impact music and travel can have on student performers.
Let’s get to know Chris!
He’s had a full-circle music journey.
I graduated from West Ottawa High school, went to Western Michigan University for music education and then taught just outside of Kalamazoo at Mattawan High School. But I wanted to change a scenery, to spread my own wings and fly, so I moved to Nashville – not to teach, but to play. I was playing tour bus gigs and doing recording sessions as a keyboard player.
I fell into a pretty intense band director job in Tennessee, which I really loved – super competitive program with great kids and great parents. But then my wife and I had our daughter and really missed our families, so we decided to move back to Michigan.
I’m now in my second year at West Ottawa, the school I graduated from, teaching with one of my high school band directors. I never thought in a million years I would end up teaching at the school that I went to, but it has been the absolute biggest blessing for me professionally and for our family.
The Ambassadors of Music experience changed his life – nearly 20 years ago.
I’ve been involved with the tour since 2007, when a band director at the school I was teaching at led that year’s tour. My family didn’t travel a lot growing up; we didn’t have the means to take a trip like this, so when I got to do it right out of college, it changed my life. My whole perspective on the world and travel and connection and culture and communication was just broadened very, very quickly as a 21-year-old fresh college graduate.
I linked up with the folks in Tennessee doing the tour when I was teaching there and continued traveling. When my family and I moved back to Michigan and the folks at Bob Rogers Travel reached out, I knew I wanted to be involved.
He’s seen how music connects students to the broader world.
I’ve noticed in my own students that they have wider eyes and bigger ears in every sense after the tour, in the relationships they have with their friends, how they play music and how they appreciate what is around them just a little bit more. They come home with a broader sense of awareness outside of themselves.
When they’re considering the trip, I tell them they’re going to meet people from all over the state and share music with people from different cultures and languages, but we’re all connected through music.
And right now, in our country, as these kids are about to head to college, they need to understand connectedness more than anything. This trip can do that in such a monumental and influential way that I haven’t experienced anywhere else.
Fun Facts:
For Chris, that Eiffel Tower moment never gets old.
I always look forward to the moment when they see it up close – I make sure I’m facing the back of the bus, so I can see their eyes get wide when they truly see it for the first time.
It’s always exciting when the kids see the Eiffel Tower for the first time – but it’s from a distance on the bus. They don’t realize how close we’re going to get, so they’re snapping really lousy pictures out of the window.
His must-have travel item might surprise you.
At the end of the day, my must-have travel item is close friends – it’s so clichéd, but true. The experience would be so much different if I didn’t have people on the trip that I love.
I could do without everything else, though I am a fan of cheap, “disposable” socks, so I don’t have to carry them all over Europe.
He has a favorite selfie spot – and time.
It’s definitely the Eiffel Tower, but from the boat on the river cruise. We always do the cruise in the evening, so the lighting and the colors are just perfect.
Welcome to the team, Chris. We’re counting the days till the Michigan Ambassadors of Music join us in Europe!
To learn more about the Ambassadors of Music Program and connect with the state coordinator in your area, visit our State page.