Caroline Banks is a senior at Staples High School. She is a soprano in the Staples Choralaires ensemble, and an honors music student.
She is also organizing a fundraiser for KEYS Music — Kids Empowered by Your Support — a nonprofit that has provided free music education to Bridgeport students since 2004. Caroline writes:
“06880” has recognized 433 Unsung Heroes.
i propose Sung Heroes #1: the Westport music teachers.
Westport has a deep bench of musical talent. Beyond the (at least) 9 Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winners who have lived here, hundreds of Westport students have music in their DNA before it ever appears in their curriculum.
That was not me. Everything I know about music, I learned from Westport Public School music teachers and Dianna Betit, my voice coach.
Caroline Banks (right) and friend Lily Franklin, before this month’s Staples spring concert.
The rhythm of my 13 years of WPS music education will be familiar to many:
Kindergarten–2nd grade: I was shy and intimidated by performing. But music was embedded throughout our school day, so I sang because everyone else did. Each December, we performed at the Long Lots holiday sing-along. My mom still remembers the chorus to “A mi burro.”
3rd grade: Our whole class began the recorder. I enthusiastically practiced at home, which terrified our dog.
4th grade: Signed up for orchestra (violin) and chorus. 7:25 am rehearsals several times per week.
5th–6th grade: Played clarinet. Marched in the Memorial Day parade with Bedford Middle School Band.
7th grade–present: Committed to chorus, and developed my soprano range.
Throughout there were fall, holiday and spring concerts, and 4 Candlelight performances. On June 5, I’ll walk onto the Levitt Pavilion stage to sing with the Choralaires at the Pops concert for the final time before graduation.
Signs honoring all senior music students line the Staples entrance.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about who helped me along the way. My music teachers showed up with real craft, a lot of patience, and the genuine belief that music belongs to every student — not just the ones who were born into it.
So in the spirit of this blog’s Unsung Heroes, I’d like to give some long-overdue recognition to my “Sung Heroes”:
- Former teachers Ann Hadden, Betsy Tucker and Luke Rosenberg;
- Current Staples High School choral director Lauren Pine
- Dianna Betit, who has been a supportive presence in my life for the past 3 years.
Like us, Bridgeport students can get an excellent music education. They have a chorus, and can join a jazz band or orchestra. They have performed at venues like the Bijou Theatre, and events like the Bridgeport Jazz Fest. Last fall, KEYS orchestra students performed on instruments that survived the Holocaust as part of the “Violins of Hope” program.
Staples (right) and Bridgeport concert programs.
What’s different is not the quality of the program — it’s who pays for it, and how many students can access it at all.
The opportunity gap between Westport and Bridgeport is clear by the numbers:
- Westport Public Schools employs 28 music teachers for a district of roughly 5,000 students.
- Bridgeport Public Schools serves roughly 20,000 students — 4 times the size — with approximately 45 music teacher positions, not all of which were filled this past year. That works out to around 450 students per music teacher.
- Bridgeport students receive 19% less per pupil than other Fairfield County students, and 12% less than the CT state average.
KEYS has spent 22 years filling that gap, serving over 6,800 Bridgeport students since 2004, entirely through private donations and grants.
They receive no funding from Bridgeport Public Schools — even though they operate as a pull-out enrichment program in over 20 schools during the school day. In 2024 they delivered 12,753 hours of music instruction, maintained an average 5-year relationship with each of their high school students, and saw 100% of their seniors graduate.
The 41 professional teaching artists on the KEYS faculty are the peers of my teachers in Westport — skilled, dedicated educators who show up every day with the same belief that music belongs to every child.
This spring, I’m raising funds for KEYS as a tribute to my own music teachers — paying it forward in their honor to support their professional colleagues in Bridgeport.
Next fall I’ll head to Wesleyan, where I hope to keep singing. My voice was built in Westport classrooms and in private lessons with a teacher who believed it was worth developing.
The best way I know to thank all of them is to make sure the teachers 8 miles away — doing the same work, with the same commitment — have what they need to keep doing it.
If a Westport music teacher changed your life, consider naming them in the comments below. Hopefully, they will see it and feel appreciated!
And consider honoring them by donating to KEYS. On the donation page, there is a space to donate in honor of another. If you include their email address, your honoree will receive a note.
To support KEYS Music, click here.
(“Students Speak” is a regular “06880” feature. Any student living or studying in Westport or Weston can submit a piece. Email 06880blog@gmail.com. To support this local blog, click here.)
Staples conductors at the 2025 Candlelight concert (from left): Carrie Mascaro (orchestra), Caitlin Serpliss and Kevin Mazzarella (band), Jen Brima (orchestra), Lauren Pine (choral). (Photo/Dan Woog)
