Bio for Christina Latham

Mrs. Latham started playing clarinet in elementary school in Walnut Creek. She continued throughout Intermediate School with Mr. Scott the teacher for both elementary and middle school. She joined the high school band when her family moved to Manteca. In her four years of high school the band was very active, traveling to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl and to Hawaii for the Aloha Bowl. At graduation she received the Louie Armstrong Jazz Award and a scholarship from the Manteca teachers association. She served on the band council and was a teacher's assistant for the band director, Mr. Prat.

After HS she attended San Joaquin Delta College. At Delta she was the assistant to the band director, Charles Jennings and learned many skills essential to running a band. She was a member of the all the instrumental performing ensembles, as well as the University of the Pacific Wind Ensemble and Music Educators National Conference Student Chapter. She studied clarinet under Dr. Dominic and Marie Meilbrecht.

She transferred to San Francisco State University to complete her Bachelors of Music Degree. While at SFSU she participated in the Wind Ensemble and chamber groups. Her clarinet professors were Don Carole and Greg Dufford. She became the MENC Student chapter president and fundraised enough to send the group to the state conference for two consecutive years. In addition the group hosted the area solo and ensemble festival. She was the assistant to the band director, LeRoy Roach and helped run the band during the school year and the Band Directors reading clinic for many summers.

After her degree she started the credential program working at Lowell HS in San Francisco under the direction of Michelle Winter and Ko Takemoto. After one semester she was hired to teach elementary music in San Francisco for one semester while the permanent teacher was on sabbatical. Her master teacher was Sally Ann Ryan, providing guidance and inspiration.

Next she taught at Parkway Heights Middle School in South San Francisco for three years bringing the program from 40 students to 120, and creating their first Jazz Band. During this period she served on the Bay Section California Music Educators Association board as the representative for San Francisco and San Mateo counties, ran the Bay Section Middle School Honor Band and area festivals.

When her son Zachary was born she moved to Stockton with her husband Elk and taught elementary for Stockton Unified Schools. She played clarinet professionally with the Valley Concert Band and recreationally with the Stockton Concert Band.

From 1999 to the present she has been the band director at Santa Cruz High School. For the first two years she taught concurrently at Mission Hill Middle School. She has been a member of the Watsonville Community Band and served as the Secretary on the Board of the Northern California Band Association.

Bio for Ron Salinas

Ron Salinas, a former drum major of the SCHS marching band, has worked with the color guard since 1980, with only a 3-year absence from 1994-1997. Ron began his career with the band as one of 15 trumpet players, switching to french horn his sophomore year to help his director, Mr. Mac, fill that section. He led the band for two years as the SCHS drum major, earning 25 drum major awards (many of them first place), by the time he graduated. He is one of a select few Northern CA drum majors to ever 'place' in a Southern CA band review.

Over the years, his color guards have also earned an enviable record of awards from competitions statewide. Early on, his ID unit set the standard for excellence, and his signature "snake" move (aka the "Santa Cruz Wave"), was copied by many ID units throughout Northern CA. Most recently, in 2003-04, his color guard was undefeated in their class, and received the guard sweepstakes at 2 band reviews including the Fairfield Tournament of Champions.

Ron earned his degree in Graphic Design from San Jose State University and is an adjudicator for the Northern CA Band Association.