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The Great Labonski: Legendary Teacher Taking Lead Of Willis ISD Fine Arts
SUPERINTENDENT DR. TIM HARKRIDER MIGHT BE A GENIUS, NAMING KENNETH LABONSKI THE SCHOOL DISTRICT’S DIRECTOR OF FINE ARTS.
Why? He’s taking one of the state’s greatest educators and making him the leader of all the fine arts teachers.
“I was meant to be in the classroom and it’s a huge part of my personality,” Labonski said. “It’s an adjustment but now I’m teaching teachers to become better educators.
“I think of it like this. We had strong individual ships in our district in fine arts. My job is to build a navy of great ships working together– to make a bigger wave of change. My lens has been widened.”
Labonski was the Willis ISD and Willis High School Teacher of the Year in 2018 and a Gottleid Outstanding Teacher in the Arts Award recipient in 2017.
He has seen the Fine Arts program at Willis ISD explode since arriving in 2009.
“I think our biggest success here at Willis is raising the quality through culture,” he said. “When I started here, we had 12 students in choir. We went from something that didn’t really exist to hundreds of students in Fine Arts. From a theatre in the cafeteria to a beautiful Performing Arts Center. That’s what I’m most proud of – raising the bar on the output through character.”
What strikes so close to home for Labonski is that he was one of those students back in Illinois.
“When I was in high school, I literally followed my friends into the choir room,” he said. “It was lunch, and no one wanted to sit in the cafeteria. It was always cooler to be somewhere else. Right then, I found my place.”
Music was always in his life. He had an aptitude for it from a young age. He was a classical guitarist and earned a double major from DePaul University in Music Education and Classical Guitar.
“For me, we are teaching kids to have good lives,” he said. “Your core courses may get you into college or a career, but soft skills are for building a fun life and being happy. Like athletics, it teaches so many life lessons– from being able to work with other people on a team to becoming a leader. Those are skills that will make you successful for the rest of your life.
“We have several students from our program who have become music educators. That is huge for me… to be a part of their inspiration as they become an adult.”
While music is his passion, the new Director of Fine Arts has an interesting hobby.
“I’m not from Texas, but I got here as fast as I could, right?” he laughed. “When I met my wife and her family, they were some hardcore water skiers. They still are and my wife is a competitive level skier. She had a plan for me to become a slalom skier two years after we met.
“It doesn’t really connect to Fine Arts, but it’s about teaching. I vividly remember being drug behind a boat trying to learn how to ski. Now, I’m pretty good it. I bring that up, which is fire to my students. You are going to get good at this, but you have to put in the practice and hard work.”
The State of Texas has been put on notice, Willis has a new General, and he is building a new fleet of elite ships in the Fine Arts world. Prepare for a wave of success.