SXU Alum Nominated for Grammy Music Educator Award
Saint Xavier University (SXU) music alum and band director Justin Antos '08, Ph.D., has been nominated for the 2025 Grammy Music Educator Award.
The nomination marks the third time that Antos, a music teacher at Dwight D. Eisenhower High School, has been nominated. "It feels really incredible to have been nominated for a third time. I certainly didn't go into music school here at SXU over 20 years ago thinking anything like this would happen to be. To be thought of so highly by my peers in the music and education industries really means so much to me," said Antos.
Antos has collected multiple accolades over the past few years, including recognition as a national recipient of the CMA Foundation's Music Teacher of Excellence Award in 2022 and again in 2024. Upon being nominated, Antos had to provide the CMA committee with videos of his teaching, responses to classroom reflections, copies of lesson plans aligned to national standards, and his resume.
"The processes are extremely rigorous, but the payoff was well worth it. The CMA Foundation treats music teachers exceptionally well and spares no expense in giving us some truly remarkable recognition," said Antos.
In 2023, he was named as a member of Auburn University’s "20 Under 40" list of distinguished alumni. Antos was also recognized at the 2023 Midwest Clinic as a national recipient of the Dr. William P. Foster Project Community Development Award by the Music Education Alliance.
In January, Antos will be formally inducted into the Illinois chapter of Phi Beta Mu at the Illinois Music Education Conference, which is an invitation-only fraternity that celebrates outstanding achievement in the band director profession.
In addition to his work as a high school teacher, Antos also serves as the band director at SXU and teaches a methods course in instrumental music education. Some semesters, the SXU Band has over 80 members.
Whether teaching high school or college, Antos believes that music education is simply transformational and encourages members of the community to write to school administrators, school boards, and state senators or representatives to convey that music's place in schools is essential.
"Music teachers are able to create safe spaces for their students unlike anything that is seen anywhere in schools. I often tell my colleagues that we are not only in the business of shaping lives, but in some cases, saving lives. In my 17 years of teaching music, I have learned that no student can fully devote themselves to anything until they first feel loved, encouraged, and cared for, and I believe that active participation in music education is a terrific way to ensure these basic needs are met," said Antos.
As Antos looks to the future, he hopes only to continue to improve.
"I already do what I love, so I just want to be better today than I was yesterday, and I want to be better tomorrow than I am today."