James Zuniga:
CLASS OF 1973
Watsonville High SchoolClass of 1973
Watsonville, CA
Pinole Valley High SchoolClass of 1988
Pinole, CA
Fairfield High SchoolClass of 1983
Fairfield, CA
Dublin High SchoolClass of 1980
Dublin, CA
Newark High SchoolClass of 1979
Newark, CA
James's Story
Life
James R. Zuniga has been listed in the Who's Who Among America's Teachers - 1994. He has conducted the Santa Clara County Honor band in 1998. He has written and arranged numerous compositions for band and orchestra and is currently a music adjudicator for the Northern California Band Association. He was associated with Paramount Pictures briefly in 1994 and has conducted many award-winning groups traveling around the state and into Canada, Mexico, and London in 2021. He is constantly writing as a music arranger/orchestrator for concert bands, marching bands, orchestras, jazz bands, and percussion ensembles. He was accepted into the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, (ASCAP) as a composer-arranger and has been a member since 2012. He has won the "Director of the Year" award from the Calfornia Color Guard Circuit in 2015 and was selected as "Educator of the Year" for the San Benito High School District in 2016 after teaching there for 15 years. He has received;
Certificate of Recognition 2017 Teacher of the Year – San Benito County Board of Supervisors
Certificate of Congratulations Teacher of the Year 2017 – City of Hollister
Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition – 2017 Teacher of the Year – United States Congress
Educator of the Year - Tokay High School - 2022
School
I had many crushes in high school...trouble is they didn't "crush" back, at least for long. (I don't dare say who my biggest crush was...I still have a little bit of shyness left in me). My claim to fame was that I asked 7 girls to the prom and I got 7 rejections. Maybe it was because I was paying more attention to my music instead of t...Expand for more
hem. I don't know, but socializing was not my forte in high school. I became socially active in college. San Jose State in the '70's was the perfect place to come out of my social shell. I was treated very well there and people actually appreciated the talent of a musician. I thrived under those conditions and it helped mold me into the Music Director and Composer/Arranger/Orchestrator that I am today. I can never thank San Jose State enough for the wonderful opportunity to grow. Forever a Spartan!
Workplace
I've been working since I was 11. I started in the fields of Watsonville/Salinas picking strawberries, bush berries, apples and I even tried peas. In my college years I went on to Valley Harvest and drove a tractor, (that was fun!), and I also worked at the Fox Theatre as a projectionist. Working at the Fox was the coolest job ANY teenager could have...watching movies, drinking free Coke and getting PAID FOR IT! But most of all listening to all those motion picture scores. Then I made the big break and graduated from college and got my first teaching job right after Prop. 13 passed. I remember everyone telling me that I wasn't going to be able to get a job because of that controversial proposition, but I did and began my teaching career at then Newark High School. After moving around and trying different locations and schools including Watsonville High School in the 1980s, I stayed at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara for about 11 years and then decided to try the rural setting at San Benito High School and stayed there for 15 years. Today I am the music director for 45 years now.
My compositional career is a whole "'nother" story...
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
