Mrs. Christi Celone grew up all over the world as an “Army Brat”. Both of her parents were music education majors in college, but her Dad joined the Army when he graduated college. She graduated high school from Zweibruecken American High School in Germany in 1991. Following high school, Mrs. Celone attended her parents’ alma mater, Henderson State University in Arkansas. During her time at Henderson, she maintained a 3.92 GPA while being involved in numerous ensembles. She was the top trombonist in the top concert group as well as the jazz band and was also a featured singer in the first ever NuFusion Jazz group at Henderson. She was also involved in numerous small ensembles including a trombone quartet that toured the Dallas area. Her part time job in college was as a singer and instrumentalist in a family music show in Hot Springs, Arkansas. After graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1995, Mrs. Celone taught for a few years in Nebraska before arriving in Texas!
Shortly after that, she met her husband and moved to the Dallas area and became the director at Lamar Middle School. The Lamar Band consistently received Sweepstakes at their UIL competition (the Texas equivalent to LGPE). There were a few moves due to her husband’s job that took her to Florida, then back to Texas at a few different schools before settling in at Durham Middle School where she was for the last twelve years before coming to Georgia in 2019.
Mrs. Celone loves teaching middle school and her favorite part of her job is getting to know her students and helping them not only learn music, but how to be successful in life! But, her most important job is as wife and mom to her three girls, Kyleigh (21), Mia (17) and Teagan (almost 7). She is also an active runner. Although, she isn’t quite as active as her husband Matt who has completed over 100 marathons, and ultra-marathons including two 100 milers! She is ecstatic to be embarking on year FIVE here at Tapp!
Dr. John W. Conner, Associate Director
Dr. John W. Conner is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Frederick Douglass High School and received his BA from Morehouse College. He also received his M.M. Ed. and Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Georgia.
During his matriculation through school, Dr. Conner participated in Syphonic, Concert, Pep, and Marching Band, serving as the section leader and drum major. Dr. Conner began his teaching career in 2007 at Crawford W. Long Middle School where he served as the band director for 16 1/4 years.
In addition to teaching, Dr. Conner is also a professional flautist. Whether he is teaching or performing, Dr. Conner looks to share his love for music with everyone he encounters!