Commencement Z. Aaron Barkon

Z. Aaron Barkon, music teacher

Hamden High School Hamden, Connecticut

Aaron Barkon “believes that music is transformative and continues to prove himself correct as his students change over their four years with him,” says Helena Marie Burgueño ’19, who played French horn in the jazz band, among other ensembles, during her four years at Hamden High School. She was able to be part of the jazz band because Barkon personally transposed every piece of trombone music so that she could play the part. “He invests himself wholeheartedly in his students, pushing them to expect excellence from themselves and holding them to high standards without losing a shred of kindness or understanding.” Burgueño, who went on to become president of the Amherst Symphony Orchestra, is grateful for Barkon’s encouragement of her growth as a musician and as a person. “Thoughtful and present in every interaction, he is the type of teacher that you run into in the grocery store three years after you graduate who still remembers conversations that you had during pep band,” she says. “I’m not sure that my French-horn-playing abilities were the lynchpin to my eventual acceptance to Amherst, but Mr. Barkon was definitely the first teacher I told when I got my letter.”