Robert Knabel

Robert Knabel has been the director of East Lake High School chorus for 30 years. His first two teaching assignments were at Lakewood and Pinellas Park High Schools. He is now in his 46th year of teaching music in Pinellas County Schools. Knabel still enjoys teaching because he never lost sight of the most important part of education; the students! He is committed to being certain EVERY student learns something! He makes it a point to personally connect with every student in some way since he is concerned about the number of students in the system that feel lost and unimportant.
He has put the ELHS chorus in Carnegie Hall 8 times, the Mormon Tabernacle twice, and even the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. They have been accepted by audition every year into the prestigious Candle Light Processional in Epcot. His groups consistently score superior ratings on the district level and qualify every year to attend evaluation on the state level. He believes that many students today feel relatively bored and unchallenged. He has made it a point to challenge students to continually grow and explore and to understand that high school is important as a springboard into young adulthood.