Hello! My name is Jessica Kwasny. I go by Jess or Jessica, but not Jessie. : ) My pronouns are she/her/hers. I live in Chicago with my husband, Eric, and our rescue pup, Lorraine. I teach elementary school and middle school general music in a northwest suburb of Chicago. In non-COVID years I also direct a 5th Grade chorus at the elementary school where I teach.

I am just so excited to learn from everyone sharing their knowledge, experience, and skills at the institute. I love being a learner even more than I love being a teacher so I am really looking forward to this experience. I am also thrilled to be able to bring this knowledge into my classroom next year.

When not teaching I love getting outside with Eric and Lorraine. On the weekends we try to spend as much time outside as possible hiking and/or camping in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana. Long weekends and breaks take us further from Chicago. I enjoy photography, reading, playing with Lorraine, learning about wine (beyond just drinking it), and improving my French language skills. I recently started taking a class through Alliance Française de Chicago and I am loving it!

Something unusual about me is that I cannot take a single picture of anything. Whatever the subject matter I always end up with at least two pictures of the exact same thing (if not more). Then I generally irritate my husband as I ask for his to help to choose between two pictures that are either identical or nearly identical.