Road construction and the arts are fields that seem worlds apart, yet Michael Gibson's career path has crossed both.
Gibson, the principal at Summerville Union High School District's Connections Visual and Performing Arts Academy, started his career as a project manager for a private company that did freeway and highway projects in the Santa Clara Valley, now called Silicon Valley.
But a volunteer coaching job helped direct his future into education.
Gibson has been principal at the academy for the past five years. Under his direction, it has grown both in program and in enrollment.
It now boasts a myriad of courses, including film editing, animation, ballet, concert choir, academy drama, and studio art available to its 160 students.
From the time he started, his vision for the program was one that contains all that each individual student is seeking in visual and performing arts, he said.
"I don't ever want them to outgrow the program," he said. "I want the program to meet their needs."
That was the drive behind the latest additions to the school, including string ensemble, stagecraft and ballet.
His commitment to the arts is evident in his office. Colorful posters from plays such as "Hello Dolly," "The Sound of Music" and "Cats" are lined in neat rows on the back wall.
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