David J. Ashcraft

Sahuaro was a life-changing experience. What a privilege it was to be part of the opening of a new school, and to be selected as the first Student Body President. I have so many fond memories of Band, Choir, Yearbook, Student Council, Boys State and the great times with wonderful classmates, many of whom are still friends today.

I remember helping to lift Mr. Webb's car onto a high sidewalk after a football game so he couldn't drive home. (Yes, we eventually got it down for him . . .) There were special moonlight horseback rides down the Tanque Verde with Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Foust, Sharon Graham, Susie Barnes and other friends. One night I was "kidnapped", thrown into the back of a car in a burlap bag, and taken to 31 Flavors for a quart of ice cream, followed by several carnival rides at Oxford Plaza. (I even lived to tell the story . . .) Who could forget Sahuaro's first State Basketball Championship at the Colosseum in Phoenix, or our Senior Prom ("Camelot") in the Cafeteria?

I continue to be in contact with the Sahuaro Community, attending the annual Honors Night and Cougar Foundation Breakfast/Hall of Fame Induction each Fall.

I would call upon my classmates to consider financially benefitting the Cougar Foundation by supporting student awards and scholarships, as well as teacher mini-grants.

I attended the University of Arizona, subsequently earning Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral degrees in music. Following William B. Iveson, I served as Choral Director at Sahuaro for 33 years (also teaching AP Music Theory, Music History and Guitar, and chairing the Fine Arts Department). I stepped down from Sahuaro in 2007 to pursue other professional ventures and volunteer work. It has been a pleasure serving on numerous local, state and national boards and committees, as well as conducting, consulting and clinicing upon invitation while mentoring and assisting music teachers. I served as a part-time faculty member at Northern Arizona University, supervising music teacher candidates in Southern Arizona for five years. From 2015 to 2017, I was on the faculty of the U of A Fred Fox School of Music as the Choral Music Education Instructor and Conductor of the Wildcat Choir. I have also enjoyed freelance writing and have served as an editor for several publications. One of the greatest honors of my life was to have the Sahuaro Fine Arts Building named the "David Ashcraft Center for Performing Arts" in 2008.

I would have taken a typing class.