Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. My name is Justin Fitzpatrick. I'm a fourth year instrumental music education student from Tallahassee, Florida and I attend Florida and a university. It's a surreal feeling to finally say I'm about to graduate from the school that I watch. So many students come out of so many role models, teachers. It's really surreal to me. I'm currently a member of the Marching 100. I just completed my fourth year of Marching with the band where I currently serve as the university band's president, as well as this excellent section leader. It's scary. It's exhilarating. It's an experience like no other. The lights are on. Your on field, you have crowds from 16,000 to 90,000 people watching you. It's honestly one of the most exhilarating experiences that I get every time. And every time I put on that uniform, it's just, I know I'm putting on a show for the person next to me, for the person's watching me, and for even the children, honestly, that are watching me that I can hopefully inspire to become and climb the music or want to try out in a piano or instrument one day. I started music back in stick to grade and my band director, Mr. Ernet Moore, told me that if you stick with this, this thing called music, you can go far. And I took those words and I really just put them into my hard work of wanting to learn the instrument, wanting to be better. And he inspired me to become a music educator because he connected with me. It was something about music and something about the program itself that I just love doing that more than anything else. And that feeling is honestly what I want to give to students when I become a teacher out into the field. My name is Justin Fitzpatrick and I will be graduating in spring of 2019 from the Florida Anum University with a degree in instrument and music education. Voices that inspire is sponsored by Leadership Tallahassee, a program of the Tallahassee Chamber celebrating 35 years of cultivating community leadership.