mrvalle

Mr. Valle -

I remember watching you walk into your first round of director auditions with the band, calm, collected, and cool. When it came time for you to audition with the orchestra, the people who saw your first round were like "I hope the guy with the alto sax made it." Lo and behold, there you were! In both sessions, you worked very efficiently and managed to improve both ensembles' pieces in such a short amount of time, and that clearly carried on into your direction this past school year.

It's funny that you wrote "thanks for keeping us directors in check during marching band season" in my yearbook, because I wanted to apologize for being overly critical of you in certain situations during marching season and the trips we took. I'm not the one with a degree in Music Education, so I don't know why this sounds so much like an evaluation, but it's really been a pleasure seeing you improve so quickly in one of the most trying years for the program.

You undoubtedly have a huge legacy to uphold, and it won't be smooth- sailing from here but I know you'll be fine regardless. Hopefully you have some good stories to tell to your students in the 2030s about the people from your first year of teaching, the way Mr. A and V always had! I'll be the first to agree to perform if you arrange an alumni concert once the metal frame becomes a new PAC, so see you then ;)

Best of luck,
Annabelle Wu