Alumni music teachers leaving respective schools after 2015-2016 school year

 

Parents and pancakes filled the quad in late April as Redwood Middle School band director Jonathan Jow and SHS band director Jonathan Pwu quieted their ensemble of students and raised their arms to get set. The concert bands and orchestras of the middle and high school played their bittersweet final pieces for their final Pancake breakfast with two long-appreciated instructors.

As the 2015-2016 year comes to a close, two of the community’s most beloved music teachers, both alumni of the schools, will be leaving their positions, starting their new chapters outside of their current schools.

Growing up in Saratoga, both teachers said they have considered this community their home, and teaching here holds a special place in their hearts.

 

Pwu’s departing after four years

During his four years as director here, Pwu helped lead the marching band to its first participation in the Bands of America Regional Competition and witnessed the band place first this past season. He was also a key figure in taking the band to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2012.

Pwu feels it is a “fitting time” to leave SHS because of the milestones the music program has completed, most significantly, participating the marching band in the Tournament of Roses Parade this past season.

Having stayed in the Bay Area for most of his life, Pwu said it was time to venture out of his comfort zone.

“There’s a big part of me that wants to go out and experience living someplace else [and] fully invest myself in another setting, in particular a big city,” Pwu said. “I have had that feeling for about two years now, [but] it’s definitely a tough decision.”

For now, Pwu is unsure what his next job will be, but he intends to travel to Australia and New Zealand with his family for two weeks and to visit the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand by himself. His schedule is flexible, but the earliest he will return is December.   

“When I get back, we’ll see what happens and what jobs are available,” Pwu said.

Pwu has gained respect for his ability to coordinate with student leaders, design staff, drill writers, music arrangers and rehearsal facilitators for all departments of the music program. In that time, Pwu has dedicated himself to the school, making his departure a difficult transition for the program and for his colleague, Michael Boitz.

“Mr. Pwu, out of everybody in our department, catches us a lot,” Boitz said. “He is a safety net. He’s the grounded [and] calm personality in the department. He has held the reins in the marching band program, which is probably 80 percent administrative [and] 20 percent actual teaching of the students.”

Even as he plans his departure, Pwu has already registered the marching band and color guard in all of their competitions for the 2016-2017 school year and has advertised his open position on Facebook and through the CMEA website.

Boitz recently announced that Jason Shiuan, another SHS grad who graduated from Northwestern University, will be taking over Pwu’s position next year. After gaining his teaching credential, this following year will be his first time as a music director.

For Pwu, his time spent here at the school is a treasured memory, and he said he will ultimately miss collaborating with talented and bright SHS students.  

“Teaching SHS students has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences I’ve had, and I will definitely miss each and every student’s unique personalities,” Pwu said.

 

Jow leaves Redwood after 10 years  

As SHS makes preparations for Pwu’s departure, Redwood Middle School is also bidding goodbye to its longtime band director.

Jow has worked at Redwood since 2006, starting off as a teaching assistant. He began by helping with the paperwork and working “behind-the-scenes” with the music program. He became the official director in 2009 and currently oversees two music exploratory classes for the sixth graders, along with the five levels of orchestra, the marching band, the color guard, jazz band, choir, band sectionals and percussion sectionals.

He said he is ready to expand his experiences, but ultimately his passion for teaching students at Redwood made the decision to leave difficult. He compares this departure to leaving for college, as he doesn’t “necessarily know if [he is] making the right choice, [but] it’s just the next thing to do in order to grow as a person.”

In the next year, Jow will be teaching 3rd and 5th graders at all three of the Saratoga elementary schools and plans to  “spread [himself] as a teacher some more” by visiting Redwood and SHS frequently.

“As a teacher, I was ready to try something new, try something different and challenge myself because that’s what ultimately for me keeps me motivated to grow no longer as a student, but as a professional,” Jow said.