Joel Poppen is in his 18th year of teaching in the Ankeny School District.  At Ankeny High School he serves as Co - Director of the Ankeny Marching Hawks, Director of the 10/11 Concert Band, Music Theory Instructor, and is Director of Jazz Studies.  Joel’s first three years in the Ankeny school district were spent teaching elementary students at two schools on the east side of town.   He is currently serving as Fine Arts Department Chair at Ankeny High School. 

Joel graduated from Charles City High School, performing in ensembles under the direction of Bob Gower, Gene Martin, and Ray Holtz.  He received his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies and Trumpet Performance from Coe College and his teaching certification from University of Northern Iowa.   His professional affiliations include SCIBA, IBA, ISEA, AEA, and JEI.

The Concert Band at Ankeny High School, directed by Joel, has received a division I rating ten of the last twelve years.  His bands consistently perform new works for concert band as well as tried and true gems from the concert band repertoire.  Joel’s jazz bands have been very successful through the years, placing among the top bands at the Iowa Jazz Championships and performing at the Iowa Bandmasters conference.

Joel is a team member of the Iowa Comprehensive Musicianship Project.   He has been a member of the Executive Board of The Greater Des Moines Community Jazz Center for the past 14 years and is a contributing editor of CJC’s quarterly newsletter. Joel is a past president of the Iowa Chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators and is currently on the resource panel for the Jazz Educators of Iowa.  He has arranged music for the Warren Junior Military Band from Youngstown, Ohio and the West Des Moines Valley Marchmasters.   Mr. Poppen is active as an adjudicator and clinician at festivals throughout the state of Iowa, including the North Central Marching Band Invitational, the NCIBA jazz festival, Valleyfest, the M.A.C.B.D.A. Summer tour, as well as working with individual schools in the Des Moines Metro area.