3 People That Should Run for President
I have several mentors and role models in different areas of my life over the years. I say that like I’m 80 even though I am only 31. I am only including my top 3 most influential people for the sake of time: Larry O. Williams, Eric Mabrey, and Tom Rodrigo, in no particular order. Enjoy the real life photos!
Larry O. Williams
Mr. Williams, a.k.a. Larry O., a.k.a Masta Williams, a.k.a. Massa, was my high school band director. He got me through tough times as a child. He knew what was going on even when we didn’t. He got to know our parents, and made sure we were making good decisions. Band was not just a class, but a family, and he created that safe environment.
Larry with me and my twin sister, years after high school, when he let me borrow his soprano sax
I still go to him for advice on things in life, whether it is music related, finances, life decisions, men… anything and everything. Occasionally I will find out about a gig of his that I can go to and I love to go support him. To me, being an audience member at a loved one’s performance is a sign of love and respect. All of his performances are top notch, but my favorite is seeing Larry and the Invisible Band, where he plays alto and tenor saxophone to tracks. I want to do Gabi and the Invisible Band so badly and he has even told me all the steps to do it. Here is a video from one of them.
If I had to say one thing to Larry O. Williams, I would say thank you for being the kind of person that everyone wants to be. You personify the golden rule- treat others how you want to be treated. You don’t care about the negative in people, but rather you see the positive and drill it into them until they see it too. You understand people on a whole other level. I know you don’t want to, but please run for president.
Eric Mabrey
Eric was my guide teacher for student teaching while I was getting my credential at San Diego State. However, he was much more than that. He quickly became a father figure and mentor. The way that he was with the kids made me feel like I could develop my own director personality too. I remember asking him how he is so good at detecting errors during rehearsal, and his answer was basically that you learn with experience. That sat with me because after that, he gave me so much experience that I felt like I was decent with error detection by the time I had my own music program. To give someone that much confidence with that kind of answer would be difficult for someone who didn’t trust me to conduct their amazing band.
Olympian High School band
Eric got me through some tough times student teaching, especially when I didn’t pass my edTPA the first time. This was the main assessment you have to do at the end of the crednetial program that you have to pass in order to be credentialed. I put hours of work into it and everyone thought it was going to be great, so he was outraged when I didn’t pass. In his mind I was a great teacher, so how could an assessment not reflect that? It lit just as much of a fire in him as it did me to make sure I pass the second time. Even the students supported me in it because they saw all of the work I put in. That is a culture that was created by Eric. All of the kids wanted to see me and each other succeed.
With the Olympian High School Band at a competition
If I had to say one thing to Eric, it would be thank you for being a ray of sunshine. You have shaped me as a director and as a human. Often when I am in a situation where I am not sure how to help a student, I think “what would Eric do?” I think about how to balance work with my significant other and I remember how much you love Beth despite being so involved in your work. I see the way you and Beth are as a standard for how a relationship should be. I know you don’t want to, but please run for president.
Tom Rodrigo
Tom was one of my first principals as a band/choir director. My first job was a split assignment, so I was at Montgomery Middle School and Montgomery High School. I would go to the middle school for the morning and the high school for the afternoon. An honorable mention on this list is the middle school principal, Louie Zumstein, who is also a legend as far as principals go.
Montgomery High School Band 2017
New uniforms for the Montgomery High School band in 2018
Tom was the high school principal, and he really made my first year band director dreams come true. He made the dreams of the music program come true. Under his lead, we doubled the size of the band, got them into competing in field and parade competitions, got new uniforms for the band, and even painted a rehearsal football field for us because the sports teams didn’t want to share theirs. He also supported my choir, even making sure we got to go compete in choir festivals.
Montgomery High School Choir 2017
Even though Tom was only around for one year of my life, he made such an enormous impact on me that I have reached out to him multiple times over the years, including when I was struggling as a new teacher after he wasn’t my boss anymore and my current administration was not supportive. I don’t think he knows how much of an influence he was on me. So Tom, what I would say to you is thank you for being the kind of person that wants to see others succeed. You lift people up and make it seem like anything truly is possible. As a principal, you could have said no to everything like most bosses do, but you made things happen because you knew deep down how important each act was. I know you don’t want to, but please run for president.
PLEASE Run for president.
The people on this list have shaped who I am as an adult. They are where the bar is set as far as being a good human. Without getting too political, our country is being run by a weird alien who doesn’t have any sense of humanity. If any of these three people were president, the world would be a much better place.
Larry, Eric, and Tom, I appreciate everything you have done for me. There is so much more I can say about you all, but I will conclude with a huge thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for continuing to support me in my endeavors.
