Mariachi music is quickly growing across Wichita schools

Students from across Wichita Public Schools came together this week for the district’s first mariachi camp, with a concert to finish it off. The camp is part of a growing mariachi presence at middle schools across Wichita.

The camp was a collaboration between multiple teachers to highlight what mariachi is and its significance to Hispanic culture.

Starting July 20, students from seventh to twelfth grades had four days to learn various pieces to perform at the July 23 concert.

“We have a lot of kids … that are alumni of our program, so a lot of them have played the music before,” Mayberry Middle School teacher Panya Amphone said. “There’s a couple of tunes that are new to the kids, but a lot of them are really proficient players already.”

The week-long camp was a collaboration of mariachi program teachers, including Amphone, Hannah Copeland from Allison Traditional Magnet and Ryan Clayton from Pleasant Valley Middle School. The camp was open to all schools within 259, and teachers from schools without mariachi programs also helped out.

Martha Sanchez, a teacher at Hamilton Middle School, which doesn’t have a mariachi program, said she’s hoping to see one at her school within the next couple of years.

“It’s very, very rewarding to watch my culture, my heritage, be shared with all these kids,” Sanchez said.

How the mariachi program began

Amphone was Mayberry’s choir and orchestra teacher when the school decided to hire a full-time choir director, leaving some gaps in his schedule. Amphone said inspiration from a friend — the conductor of the Arizona State University mariachi — combined with Mayberry’s large Hispanic population led to him looking into mariachi music.

“What I decided to do was to approach my principal and ask to start a mariachi program at the middle school level, which hadn’t been done in our district before,” Amphone said. “And through the support of my principal, as well as some other district programs and administration, we were able to procure more mariachi instruments and get the program started.”

North High School had a mariachi program, which no longer exists, but 259 has not had a middle school mariachi program.

Amphone, who is Asian, said he is a “guest in the culture.”

“I’m learning alongside the kids, I’m learning the culture, and even now … I consider it more of a collaborative effort when we’re working on mariachi music because I think that the kids have to learn autonomy and they have to learn how to advocate for themselves,” he said.

Growth of mariachi in Wichita Public Schools

Since the Mayberry program’s inception, Pleasant Valley Middle School has created its own program and Allison Traditional Magnet is starting one this fall.

Copeland, who will be teaching the program at Allison, described the camp as “very validating.”

“You can tell that not only the kids, but the families, it’s very important to them,” she said.

Copeland said she hadn’t been very close with mariachi music, but she was inspired by the other programs and how well they were doing.

“I thought that was something super relevant to my kids, and most of the kids in this district, that I want to bring to my school as well,” Copeland said.

Sanchez, who grew up close to mariachi music, said it was great seeing the other teachers’ interest in the craft.

“They don’t come from this background, so it’s really awesome to see that they love it so much that they went to a mariachi conference so that they could learn, be better, and come back and be amazing educators to students,” Sanchez said.

This story was originally published July 25, 2026 at 6:41 AM with the headline "Mariachi music is quickly growing across Wichita schools."