Jason Jones is my mentor, director, and friend. He is the director of bands at Cleburne High School, and I have been a part of Golden Pride Band for two years. When you join band you are immediately entered into an atmosphere where everyone belongs. Not only was he in band when he was in high school, but he also went to Cleburne High so he gets to continue the legacy of the great band that he was included in. Jones has taught over six years at Cleburne High and is one of the reasons I look forward to coming to school.

Jones has very unique ways of teaching. He’s very laid back and likes to make students feel like they fit in. To prepare students for solo performances, he gives us tests that we have to do in front of the class. Such as during the fourth six weeks, he assigned a chorale for each student to sing with a partner. Being band kids, singing wasn’t necessarily a new thing to us, but a little bit of a challenge because we had never done it in class before. Jones made each individual, or pair, stand on the podium in front of the entire class to sing the chorale. Although it was very frightening to be in front of everyone it helped me overcome part of my stage fright. Now I’m not as uncomfortable about performing solo performances.

Besides is involvement in our and activities, such as pep rallies, the talent show, and our performing arts center upkeep, Jones has contributed to the school, and also the community. Dedicated to helping the band reach its full potential, Jones set up a tutorial system in which students more conversant in certain subjects help the students who need assistance in that subject. Due to recent budget cuts, our school lost one of its directors, Mr. Day. Now understaffed, we only have two directors, Versic and Jones. This year Jones and Versic have to split all of the band classes equally. That’s almost twice the work load he’s had in the years prior to this one. In February, Jones volunteered the jazz band to play for the East Cleburne Community Banquet which honors a handful of Cleburne’s students who have done outstanding things using leadership skills. The band played exceptionally well and was the accompanying music during the dinner portion of the banquet. I have known Jones all my life, and was even a part of his wedding. I believe he should be educator of the year because of his hard work and dedication to the Golden Pride Band, and the Cleburne Community.