Ms. Zebroski is the music teacher at DeBerry. She also teaches at Glenwood School. All the students at both schools take music class and last year, some sang in the school’s chorus.
Ms. Zebroski grew up in Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie. As a child, she lived with her parents and sister, 2 cats and a dog. Every summer, she spent most of her days at the beach! When she was in 4th grade, she started piano lessons and began to teach the kids in her neighborhood songs that she learned at summer camp. She continued to play instruments and sing all through elementary, middle, and high school. Ms. Z started college at West Virginia University and then moved to Edinboro University which was closer to home. She got her masters in Music Education from Fredonia University in New York and is ready to finish her PhD at the University of Hartford.
Ms. Zebroski’s music teaching has taken her to New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and now to Springfield Massachusetts. She has taught music to students as young as Pre-K and as old as college students. She has taught classroom music, chorus, orchestra, band, and handbells to students in public and private schools.
When she’s not at school, Ms. Z likes to play tennis, read, cook, and learn to play instruments. Right now, she’s working on some songs on guitar!
Ms. Zebroski is close to her nieces and nephew, loves to spend time with family and friends (especially if she can travel to interesting places to see them). Her favorite kinds of music are opera, 1970’s funk and her new favorite band is Tank and the Bangas. Ms. Z loves what she does and is happy to see her students every day!
Brie Shonak
Visual Arts
[email protected]
Ms. Brie Shonak is currently the Visual Arts Teacher at DeBerry. This means that she teaches students about developing their own unique artistic expression and what it means to appreciate Art. Ms. Brie encourages self-expression through learning different visual art mediums.
Ms. Brie grew up right here in Springfield, the birthplace of basketball, attending all Springfield Schools until college. She grew up with her amazing mother and father and two siblings, one smart older sister and one very funny older brother. Ms. Brie loved drawing and comic books at a very young age and the love for Art always grew. After high school, she went to Holyoke Community College, took one class in Art History and decided that Art would be the most important thing in her studies. She transferred to University Massachusetts at Amherst and continued to study all periods of Art and Visual Art making. After graduating from college she decided to open her own Art Gallery to share Art with others and to create Art.
In her free time, Ms. Brie loves to draw and go look at art in person at museums, galleries and even just out and about on the street. She loves to be active and walking, always has her eyes open taking pictures or sketching, looking at the world around her to see what new Art she can find.
Ms. Brie always wanted to share her love of Art with others and loves the excitement the students share for creating and learning. Before coming to DeBerry she helped create a non-profit Art School and all of the classes in support of the education of the Arts for children and adults. This is her second year at DeBerry and she is excited every single day to provide a space for students to learn and create.
Ms. Brie absolutely loves DeBerry and is looking forward to another year learning so many exciting new things with the most inspiring students!