The Instructor
John Chevalier (Mr. “C”) is the last person who ever thought he would be teaching on a high school campus. In 1979 he left High School to pursue his career in the music industry. Up to that point he had played in several local bands. His music and multimedia career began at age 15 when he took a position as a soundman and lightshow operator for a semi-pro rock band in Upstate New York. After working as their “tech guy” for 2 months, he was asked to join the group as their rhythm guitar player.
While John was living his dream of being a professional musician he began taking some classes, got his High School Diploma, and took a job pumping gas and changing oil on cars at the local service station. He continued to travel and play music on the weekends while he slowly began to learn more and more about auto repair and eventually became a full time automotive technician (By the way, he also teaches Auto Shop at HHS).
After moving to California in 1981 he became employed at Don’s Import Car Clinic in Santa Rosa, where we became a Honda/Acura Repair Specialist. John was the Honda/Acura Specialist for Beckstrom Automotive in San Rafael, who received acknowledgement for being one of the TOP TEN Repair Shops in the Bay Area. In 1990 John left the repair shop to manage Hahn Auto Electric in Santa Rosa.
In 1992 John was offered a position as music director at a local church, overseeing all the music, audio and video productions. As time went on, he began to receive invitations to speak at various conventions around the country. This led to a 10-year career, traveling nationally as both a musician and teaching leadership development seminars. Most recently, John has been an instructor at the INFOCOMM Convention, and the National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB), two of the largest multimedia conventions in the world,. He currently writes for Technologies for Worship Magazine, where he is also the Music and Multimedia Editorial Adviser.
In 2006 John began teaching Automotive Technology for the Regional Occupational Program of the Sonoma County Office of Education. After teaching one year in the Auto Tech Program at Cloverdale High School, ROP decided to move the program to Healdsburg High School. During these discussions John overheard that they would be looking for a multimedia teacher and, after a short conversation, it became obvious that this was a good fit. John’s passion for teaching others, his leadership experience, along with his Multimedia background and passion for the town of Healdsburg made the transition to Healdsburg High an easy jump.