Students who were in Gregg Souza’s music programs at Manteca High from 1979 through 1985 gathered this past weekend to celebrate the impact the retired teacher had on them and the school’s overall music program.

It included more than 100 grads and former band students  attending the Manteca High-Sierra home football game where Souza conducted the current band on Friday.

There was a band reunion in the Manteca High band room on Saturday followed by a no host after party the Deaf Puppy Comedy Club.

A group of Manteca High School students from the classes of 1978 through 1986 came together for a reunion to honor and reconnect with Souza who impacted hundreds of teenage lives in just a few short years.  In essence, the organizers noted, “it was a Manteca version of Mr. Holland’s Opus.”

Souza has been described as “an unwitting pivotal influence in the lives of many MHS students,” making an impact beyond anything he could have imagined or likely believed possible. 

He took the job of Band Director at Manteca High School as his first gig after graduating from UOP in 1977. 

He was only a few years older than his students, yet he immediately commanded respect, demanded excellence and along the way instilled accountability, both personal and to the larger team, shaping young lives in ways that teenagers do not often recognize until many years later.

He came to MHS, which had a storied musical legacy from the Darling Era but had, like many other institutions of the time, fallen under a climate of malaise and almost decay. 

Souza stepped into this environment with vision and vigor.  He created a place for students to thrive, push themselves and each other and unwittingly create family.  He engaged students and parents alike to raise the bar and funds to earn their way to the competitions that he knew they were capable of winning and ultimately dominating.

Once again awards for MHS began to accumulate, the MHS band went from being the “Buffalo Chips” to a statewide force that commanded respect, ultimately traveling to Philadelphia and Washington, DC, to perform in a Thanksgiving Day parade a mere three years after his arrival.

This type of transformation not only brought accolades, it changed lives. 

As one organizer noted, “it set a foundation for many of us, an awareness and appreciation of the benefits that hard work, mutual accountability and a self-proclaimed family could accomplish.  Using today’s vernacular, it created a tribe, one that developed not only a sense of belonging but a recognition of potential and how to stretch, grow and achieve.”