Did you know that some people that you see on TV are actually Montera Alumni? Yes it’s true!! Some of the reporters on your favorite news channel or players on your favorite baseball team are actually former toros!! This leads to a lot of questions. Did Montera help them become who they are today? Get ready to hear about 3 notable alumni: Scott Budman, Brian Johnson and Steve Bowman. Interviewed to tell us about their experiences at Montera, how they got to where they are today, and their advice for the toros of today. Maybe their words could inspire you!

Steve Bowman : 

“I graduated from Montera in 1979, then continued on to Skyline High School. I am a professional drummer and was lucky enough to play music for a living. My claim to fame would be that some of the bands I played with had nice success. I was the original drummer for Counting Crows, and played on a record called August and Everything After that continues to support me to this day. Ha! I have also played or recorded or toured with 3rd Eye Blind, Luce, Bittersweets, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Train, and others…During my time at Montera I played a lot of drums! I was in the school band and also played at home with my brother and other friends we’d met at school. One of my great memories from that time was playing the talent show in the school auditorium. That felt like a huge show at the time!I can’t take credit for being a drummer. Through no choice on my own, drums and drumming amazed and compelled me from the first time I saw them. I was really lucky to discover a fun passion at an early age. Montera played a role in my music by furthering my reading/theory, introducing me to a whole crop of new players from different elementary schools, and providing me a place to make music with others. My favorite class in Montera was PE. Besides music I also loved playing baseball, football, and soccer. Junior High is exciting but it’s also a time when we go through a lot of changes that can feel scary and awkward. My advice to future Toro’s would be to remember that it gets better. One of my favorite quotes comes from John Lennon of the Beatles, who said, “Everything will be fine in the end. If things aren’t fine? It’s not the end!”’

Brian Johnson:

“My name is Brian Johnson and I am 57 years old.  I grew up near Montera, up Mountain Gate Way a little ways – the street that goes straight up and sits across from the entrance to the front parking lot at Montera.  I am a husband to my wife of 30 years, and a father to a son and daughter that both became college graduates over the last year – one a business major, the other a nutritional sciences major and a spanish minor. I graduated from Montera in 1983.  I spent each of my 7th, 8th and 9th grade years there, which was then called Junior High School.  Before Montera, I attended Joaquin Miller Elementary School, next door, and from there I went to Skyline High School and Stanford University.  After college, I first started as a Major League Baseball Player for 12 years, then I worked at a bank for 9 years, then went back into baseball to work in the front office for the San Francisco Giants for 10 years.  After each baseball season over 22 years, I would have 5 months off, so I also worked part-time for a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion firm called “The Kaleidoscope Group”, based out of Chicago.  I worked for that same firm when I left my second stint in baseball, and have been working there full-time for the last 4 years.  So I have been involved in DEI work for 21 years.  It has been a fun ride so far. Montera was very helpful in my life.  As an athlete, we didn’t have any sports teams then, but gym classes were big for me as I competed against myself to earn the different colored shorts signifying athletic achievement (gray, blue, blue-satin, gold, gold-satin, black, black-satin).  As a person, Montera was great because the student body was multicultural, which allowed me to learn that not everyone saw the world as I did, nor were they having the same experience that I was having as a male, as a white kid, and as a person born in America.  Those lessons were valuable.  It was also a place where I learned from some great teachers that I remember well to this day.  My relationship with them, and learning from them was an honor as I look back on it.  In DEI work, I work to make sure the business world is a more inclusive and fair environment for everyone.  It is a fight and that inspires me every day, because when our government systems, or our company policies are not fair, it causes harm to many people.  I fight for those people and for everyone else.  I want to live in a world that values everyone and I am willing to do the hard work to make that happen. Montera was memorable for me because I was not motivated as a student then.  I got in some trouble there, got suspended, and almost was expelled from the whole OUSD.  Fortunately for me, two teachers stood up for me downtown at a hearing to decide my fate.  They fought for me to get a second chance and it was granted.  From that moment on, I never came close to trouble and I put more work and effort into my school work.  I am grateful for second chances.  It allowed me to reach my dreams athletically and as a student. My favorite classes were math and history.  No, I don’t think they helped me figure out what I wanted to do in the future, but it showed me that those subjects could be fun. They remain two of my favorite topics to study (history) and to utilize (math) to this day.  

I would encourage my fellow Toros to explore everything, try everything, because you never know what you may be good at and you never know what you may fall in love with, unless you try it.”

Scott Budman:

“My name is Scott Budman, I’m a reporter for NBC News, focusing on tech and business here in the Bay Area.I graduated from Montera Jr High back in 1983. (Then went on to Skyline High and UCLA).I am a TV news reporter for NBC News here in the Bay.  Claim to fame? Covering big tech stories, from interviews with Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos trial, testing a ton of gadgets, and reporting on things that affect your money, like housing, crypto and the stock market. Montera was very helpful for me .. helped me build my confidence as a young person, and because I did so much writing as a student, I remember thinking that it would be awesome to someday write for a living. I’m super glad to see the Matador still around .. shows that young would-be journalists have a place to hone their craft. I was always a big fan of reading and watching the news .. grew up watching KTVU (Oakland, of course) and Dennis Richmond. Also a huge sports fan, so inspired to write about, and eventually talk about, what was going on in sports and the news…which I was able to do in high school and college. Montera was absolutely memorable. I’m grateful to be able to say that I’m still, all these years later, friends with people that I met there. I started at Montera as an extremely shy person (not ideal for a career as news reporting), but gradually gained confidence. Good question. I started taking classes in English and History at Montera, which led me to start reading a lot of books. Nothing made me a writer as much as reading did, and I am an avid reader (and professional writer) to this day. Montera is where I found my niche academically, which eventually led me to my career.I would say jump into whatever activities, sports, friendships, and books that you can. It’s very early in life, obviously, but still – it often hits me how much of what I do now, both personally and professionally, got started at Montera.”