Leonard Gnizak is in his 36th year of teaching music.  Currently, he is the Director of Bands at Oberlin City Schools, a post he???s held since 2004.  Mr. Gnizak has been a community partner to four generations of Music Mentors since the program was started in 2005.  He holds a B.A. in Music Education from Cleveland State University, and has studied Clarinet with Ted Johnson of the Cleveland Orchestra.  In 1988, he was elected Teacher of the Year by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.

Q. How did the Music Mentors project first come to be?

Ashley Hale is a fourth year, Dual Degree student majoring in Economics and Trumpet Performance. She was born in Oakland, California but is immediately from Seattle, Washington, where she began playing the trumpet in 7th grade. In her time at Oberlin she has been involved in many non-profits in the area by way of the Bonner Scholars Program. She is currently one of the coordinators of Music Mentors, a position she's held since her freshman year, and is a tutor for the Ninde Scholars program as well as at The Backspace - an after school activity center for middle and high school students. She has one more year until she completes her degrees here and is looking forward to seeing what life has to offer after Oberlin.

Q. Could you start with a description of what you???re doing?