My name is Don Russo. I started playing guitar when I was 12, played in many bands, and stumbled into teaching when I was 21 at a local music store. At first, it was a job, but I quickly fell in love with it. As I continued to develop as a musician and a teacher I started thinking of ways to engage my students more through showcases, clinics, concerts, in the recording studio, community outreach, and multiple other opportunities.

The next logical step was to open a school. When thinking of a name for the school, I thought about what separated me as a teacher. The thing that stuck out to me was that I allowed students the freedom to choose their way while supporting their desired path with the tools they needed. There was a balance of what the student wanted with what the student needed. Then, the opportunities they had helped foster this growth with real applications. We instilled this culture into our teachers and the way we operate and it took off. It has been so exciting to watch Freeway grow from a hand full of students at once location to over 1400 students at 7 locations in SC. I feel proud and humbled to be part of such a positive organization, changing lives one lesson at a time.