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Photos courtesy of Ryan Murrell.
Ethan and Mackenzie Owens with their three children, Addison, Carter and Anna. Mackenzie Owens is the assistant band director at Homewood Middle School.
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Photos courtesy of Ryan Murrell.
Owens, student Ellie Holm and Homewood Middle School Band Director Ryan Murrell.
At Homewood Middle School, the beat of the band doesn’t just come from drums and horns — it pulses through the dedication of assistant band director Mackenzie Owens. A music educator, wife, and mother of three, Owens seamlessly blends her personal and professional worlds, bringing not just talent but heart to the Homewood band program.
She made the move to Homewood City Schools after receiving a call from HMS band director Ryan Murrell.
“The way I landed here was I met Ryan 10 years ago, when we taught in Milledgeville, Georgia,” Owens explained. “I was an elementary music teacher, and my husband was one of his middle school band directors, and I was on staff after school with his high school band program.”
Though life moved her and her husband, Ethan, closer to her hometown of Carrollton, Georgia, as they raised their children, Carter, Addison and Anna, her career continued to flourish. After teaching part-time in Pell City and full-time roles in Oxford and Leeds, she got the call from Murrell when a position opened in Homewood.
“She was the first person that popped in my head immediately,” Murrell said. “I just knew that she would be a good fit, not only because she connects well with the kids, but because we know how hard of a worker she is.”
Owens is now in her third year at Homewood. “My favorite thing about Homewood is how they value everybody and everybody’s ideas. You feel very heard and very seen here, and they want the best for their staff and their students,” she said.
Juggling motherhood and a demanding role isn’t easy, but Owens has found a rhythm that works. “The thing that’s really great about here is that my kids come with me. They’re a part of me, and they’re a part of what I do. They’re not a distraction, but they get to see a different role and different aspect,” she said. “The students here love them like they were their big siblings.”
That unique bond shows up in every corner of her life, even in how her one-year-old daughter Anna acts around the band. “She’s just really at home at all the events. I’ve conducted concerts with her in her wrap and she’s been asleep, or she’s just been hanging out, chilling. Recently, I played at the high school concert with her sitting in my lap and I played saxophone and she just kind of sat there and just held it and stared.”
The kids are regulars under the Friday night lights, tagging along with their parents at home games, only staying with family or a babysitter when both their parents have overlapping away games on the schedule. Owens says the involvement has made an impact on her kids and definitely sparked their interest in music.
Her kids aren’t the only ones being impacted, though, as she credits her students for impacting her life too. “They make an impact on me, just like I make an impact on them,” she said. “I think they make me a better teacher, a better mom, a better musician.”
Murrell sees her quiet strength daily. “She’s the kind of person who would put everybody else before herself,” he said. “She does so much for other people … I want other people to see what I see.”
Owens’ passion is clear: “My plan is to be here long term. I want to see this program continue to thrive and be as successful as it has been. It’s not going anywhere. We’re here for the long haul.”
