After the last two choir directors left the search began for a new director to take over. The role was awarded to Aaron Bourgeois.

Originally from Louisiana, Bourgeois is the newest edition to the Fine Arts program. After graduating from Louisiana State University in December of 2018, Bourgeois taught choir at his old high school. After that, he set his sights on Texas.

“I [was] in Baton Rouge for a while, and once that kind of wrapped up I was looking to move to some bigger and better things,” Bourgeois said. “I ended up setting my sights on Texas in general because when I was in my music school, all the best singers that I knew and all the great musicians that were around were all Texan.”

After arriving in Texas, Bourgeois applied for many different districts all around: Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin and Houston. About fifty or sixty districts worth of application and just as many interviews, Bourgeois got an interview at James Bowie High School.

“Bowie caught my eye as something special for sure and when I applied there and came in for the interview, it ended up being something special,” Bourgeois said. “I was really glad, I [knew] from the second I walked in for that interview that this place was different and a good place to be.”

When Bourgeois did get the job, he was coming into a very interesting position. For the seniors this year, Bourgeois would be the third director that they would have. There hasn’t been a long term choir director for a while. It will take a few years to really satisfy some of the bigger ideas that he has for the department.

“Ultimately, I want to make sure that our choir has a chance to contribute to the community,” Bourgeois said. “I want to make sure they have a chance to reach out to those middle schools that feed into the choir program because that’s where we get our students for the choir program.”

The past director wasn’t that involved in getting the middle schoolers to participate in choir. This is one of the reasons that there are so few kids in freshman choir. Rachel McBurnett, a junior in choir, agrees with Bourgeois and the direction he is taking.

“We have some really pretty songs right now that we are doing and I really like them,” said McBurnett. “I really like what he’s doing. We chose a song [specifically] for the middle schoolers and I really like where we are going.”

Bourgeois is a teacher that wants the best for his students. He tries his best to push his students and be the teacher that young singers need. Freshman Kierra York enjoys the way he teaches and believes he will be successful in his journey

“He is a very good choir teacher. He’s very funny and caring and I like him a lot,” York said. “He is a little laid-back but in a good way. Not only does he teach he tries to get to know us, he tries to form a relationship with us. He definitely helping me expand my vocal range [and] pushes me a lot.”

In Austin, there is a great support of creativity esspecally in the arts. For the future of the program, Bourgeois wants to contribute this creativity into the choir department.

“I am hoping that we can make this choir significant by making it so that it is unique and making sure that we are doing things that no one else is doing,” said Bourgeois.