Holcomb Bridge Middle School
Alpharetta, GA
Erick Stallings is a middle school band director at a Title 1 school, a position that does not often receive a lot of attention or praise. Nonetheless, Erick has quietly but meaningfully changed the lives of so many middle schoolers during some of their most critical years. Many of Erick’s students come to school FOR band class. They come for his “dad jokes” & his passion for music, for his constant encouragement & understanding of the middle school struggles. During CoVID, Erick creatively pivoted to keep his students both safe & engaged in a class that can be pretty high risk for airborne illness. When schools shut down in the early months, Erick personally dropped off instruments at students’ homes when they didn’t have transportation to pick them up. When schools reopened, he engineered & built multiple tents in a parking lot median so his students could safely play their instruments and substituted bucket drumming in the classroom when the weather didn’t cooperate. Despite all these challenges, his students rave about his classes and come visit & help out after they graduate. Many of his students continue in music and a few have even become music educators themselves. Erick brings joy to students when they need it most.”