A 2020 graduate of Shaler Area High School, Almonte notes two factors that were instrumental to pursuing music—his family, and a foundation in Shaler Area. With a multicultural background and music-loving parents, Almonte entered Shaler Area arts programs to find a strong community and friends that became lifelong. He shares how SASD provided a place to find his voice and build his confidence: “As a student of color in a predominantly white community, the arts were a space where I felt accepted and supported to share and explore my identity. In my own career as a music educator, I hope to create that same sense of belonging for my students by celebrating diversity and fostering classroom community through inclusive pedagogy.”
And he’s off to a great start! Equipped with a Bachelor of Music Education and a minor in Deafness & Hearing Studies from Penn State, he jumped straight into the world of crosscultural education by earning a Fullbright Teaching Fellowship. Almonte taught music and language in Taiwan for a year, and stayed on for a second to work in Taipei, Taiwan, at the Guting Bilingual Elementary school last year. His days were packed with creating and teaching bilingual play-based music education for over one thousand students in grades 1–6. Interactive storytelling, multilingual literacy, and community outreach were harmoniously integrated into his classroom.
Almonte’s favorite moments as a music teacher result from broadening the horizons of young students. “It’s so exciting to see students become excited about a musical culture they were previously unfamiliar with,” he describes. “It is also equally, if not more, exciting when students hear the music they listen to at home—the music that represents their family ancestry—represented in their music education at school.”
Having returned from Taiwan, Almonte’s next role is an elementary music teaching position in Maryland. Reflecting on the concordance of music and language for his career, he advises current Shaler Area students, “Find the people and things that make you the most happy. Our lives are so much fuller when we spend it doing the things we love with the people that care the most about us.” His wise words ring clear as a bell.