Spotlight: Collin Binko (WY '24)

Wyoming Milken Educator Collin Binko (WY ‘24) is a Jackson Hole High School fine arts teacher and district K-12 fine arts coordinator. His leadership not only doubled choir enrollment at the middle school, but his cross-curricular approach also helps students connect music with core subjects like math and reading. Binko received a Milken Educator Award on March 12, 2025.

Milken Family Foundation: How did you feel at your Milken Educator Award notification?

It was a whirlwind. I was so focused on getting my kids ready for the assembly and making sure all of the moving parts of the day ran smoothly for the state superintendent visit that when they moved into the award part of the assembly, I was still focused on making sure all of the sound was working and everyone could hear. (I set up the sound and stage for the event). When we realized why we were all gathered, myself and another teacher were trying to guess who it was. When they called my name, it was an amazing feeling to celebrate surrounded by all my kids. 

MFF: How did students respond to your Milken Award?

They were ecstatic. We have worked the past four years to create a music community in our district where kids feel like they belong. As honored as I was to receive this Award, all credit goes to the space that the kids and myself make. This Award was as much theirs as it was mine, and that was felt by everyone. 

MFF: What made you want to pursue a career in education?

I had a team of music educators in high school that created a space where I found my community. I wanted to try and create that same magic in other communities. Watching kids come together in pursuit of making something that is bigger than themselves is truly special.

MFF: How do you use music as a bridge to support multilingual learners and foster cross-curricular connections in subjects like math and reading?

We spend a lot of time in choir class talking about how we are pronouncing words and manipulating how we use our voices; a lot of this is done by rote. This directly lends itself towards supporting multilingual learners. From a larger lens I think the place of music and the arts are a vehicle that brings kids to school and provides them with a community. I have had many students who wouldn’t show up each day if it wasn’t for band, choir or orchestra.  

MFF: What drives your passion for building musical communities across grade levels and the broader Jackson Hole community, and how has that impacted your students?

I love bringing people from all walks of life together. Music happens to be one of the vessels that I can do this through. The more people we can impact and interact with, the more shared understanding there is in our greater community and the stronger our community is. It takes a village, and the more people willing to help out and make those around them the best they can be the better.

MFF: What does “success” look like for you and your students in life?

Success is being the best version of yourself in service of those around you. Success is doing the best you can—not to be better than someone, but to elevate them—to be the best version of themself. 

MFF: Who are your role models in teaching?

My mom had a huge impact on me as a teacher. As a teacher of the blind and visually impaired, she would often get a student in kindergarten and then have them through 12th grade. Her kids became a part of our family and she still is in touch with many of them years later. I didn’t realize this until later in life, but this example is how I view my students. As a music teacher, you have students for consecutive years and the relationships that are made with each student is something that I place great value in. 

I also had an amazing high school music team when I was a student (John Viavattine, Ben Osborne and Allen Jones). These teachers didn’t give up on me and created a space that I was able to find myself and feel seen and supported. I try to model the environment these master teachers created every day in my own classroom. 

MFF: How do you hope to be remembered by your students?

I hope to be remembered as someone who truly cared about the well-being of my students. While we are growing as a music program and starting to play at a very high level, I don’t actually care as much about how we sound or the grade of music we perform. If students leave our program feeling like they are a part of something bigger than themselves, and feeling as though they belong, are seen, respected and loved, that is all I care about. It's really not about me, but about us, and if I am remembered as playing a small role in building our community, I would be honored. 

MFF: Are you working on any interesting initiatives or new projects these days? Is there anything else you want to share about your school?

We are in a phase of rapid growth. Our middle school and high school music programs are seeing record numbers. It is a very exciting time to be part of the Teton County School District Music Team and we have fantastic music teachers in our district who are doing all they can to create the best experiences for our kids. It is going to be really exciting to see what we can do in the coming years.