Special thanks to Audrey Rostowsky for her help with this story.
Orchestra, band, choir, a cappella, and guitar are among the music classes offered at West Chicago Community High School, all of which students sign up for and play in at different music levels. Now, a new potential addition is coming into view: mariachi, which will begin as an after-school club and, if enough students enroll, a new Board-approved class.
A mariachi class briefly ran about a decade ago as a guitar-based course, but low enrollment meant it only lasted a year.
“It was in the early 2010s — it did actually run as a course, and I think it was only one year,” Janiszewski said.
However, student interest remains high.
“I think it would be a really fun and a good idea and a great opportunity for people to get more into music. I know how to play music, which is really fun,” band and choir freshman Elizabeth McLean said.
The club advisors are music teachers Marissa Janiszewski, Sara Austin, and Brandon Fantozzi, who lead rehearsals on Mondays after school in the music wing.
According to Austin, “Monday, 3:15 to 4:15.” is the club’s meeting time.
The expectation is for students active in the club to be showing up to club rehearsals weekly to build up instrumentation and repertoire.
“Yes, so we’ll be up front where we’re looking for students who are committing to be there on a weekly basis,” Fantozzi said. “If someone can only be there a couple times a semester, it might not be the club for them. Because, as we’re looking to try and get it to be a performing ensemble, if you don’t show up to rehearsal, you’ll never create the product that you want to perform. So we’re looking for committed, dedicated students who are excited about performing mariachi music that are going to be there on a weekly basis.”
WEGO currently offers about 40 clubs and activities, most of which are student-driven. Mariachi Club hopes to connect more students with each other and music.
While the club is blossoming, there still remains hope in expanding mariachi into a for-credit class. The idea, which previously appeared in the course catalog as a guitar-based mariachi class for a single year, could return if enough students participate and the program proves sustainable.
The idea gained new momentum, according to Activity Director Dave Jennings, after community members spoke at a Board of Education meeting about wanting stronger connections from middle school to high school music programs.
“Families were clear: they wanted their kids to keep playing after middle school. Once that came through, our staff made it happen. This is about keeping tradition alive,” Jennings said.
Students at Leman Middle School are offered a mariachi class and program that connects students to Hispanic culture, and gives them the opportunity to play music at parent and school events. The directors said they are already in communication with Leman’s program and plan to reach out to other high schools in the area that have mariachi, learning from both course-based and club-based models as they shape WEGO’s version.
In discussing how the club originated, Fantozzi explained that the conversation had been ongoing behind the scenes.
“We’ve actually, as a music department, been talking about [this] for a couple of years as an opportunity that we think would be valuable to provide to our students,” he said. “At this point, because of staffing, that’s kind of where it stopped. It was a conversation, and we recognized the need.”
The club was provided with its instruments and necessities by WEGO Boosters, who donated $1,500 toward supplies for the first year back in August.
Many students thrive on music; mariachi may be a new key in a student’s life.
Correction
Dec. 12, 2025
A previous version of this article included quotes attributed to music teachers Marissa Janiszewski, Sara Austin, and Brandon Fantozzi that did not accurately reflect their wording during the interview. The story has been updated to include corrected, transcript-verified quotations from the interview conducted on Sept. 26. We apologize for the error.