Ipswich High School has always excelled over other schools regarding its music department. In September of this year, we all learned that Mr. Lee left Ipswich High School. Our senior band president, Lucas Wilt, was sad to find out that the band teacher he has had since 6th grade was leaving. 

Band president, Lucas Wilt, is one of the many very talented members of the band since he joined the band in 4th grade. He played the French Horn at Doyon and coming into 6th grade, he still played the horn.  In 8th grade, he joined a jazz band and he never looked back and stayed in the jazz band for all of high school.  He was also worried about how they would perform in the select ensembles before he met the new band teacher, Ms. Pagano. He was hoping she would be enthusiastic about the band and he hoped that she would love the band. 

After meeting her, he liked her so far and is excited to see how Ms. Pagano will make Ipswich better for our senior year and the years that follow. 

Ms. Pagano is a highly experienced band teacher. She has taught people of all ages at Wayland Public Schools; she masters the saxophone and is well-experienced in teaching all instruments. Her first job was teaching band for grades 4-12 where she was the only band director in the district. From the time Ms. Pagano spent teaching, she realized that she enjoyed teaching at the middle school age most. So her next job was to be the new band director for a middle school band for 20 years, but she decided that she wanted to make a change and work in high school where she landed the job at Ipswich 2 days before school started. 

Beginning at Ipswich was a bit chaotic. As she soon realized that our band room needed some major work done because it was completely unorganized and there were instruments there for longer than we’ve been alive. 

Even after just a 10-minute conversation, one can clearly tell she cares about the band and that she truly loves music. Ms. Pagano wants to make Ipswich better; she’s not just focused on winning gold although it is a goal. She’s focused on the little details we haven’t seen before. For example, she put a work order in to fix the light that had been dead since my sophomore year. She has even brought in skilled teachers to give private lessons to anybody who wants them. 

Ms. Pagano  is a great addition to the Ipswich High School. When I asked Ms. Pagano, if she had different expectations for the seniors, she responded “I have to rely on the seniors this year; I want you guys to have a good final year of band in high school.” A couple of months in, Ms. Pagano has established herself as an Elite band director. It is safe to say that the future of the Ipswich band is in good hands with Ms. Pagano.