Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Jonathan Souza is saying goodbye to Fortuna, but not to the world of music in which he grew up.

The son of former Fortuna High School band director Raymond Souza, Jonathan Souza played trumpet in high school and in the Scotia Band. He earned his undergraduate degree at Humboldt State University in music education and studied choral music and choral conducting at San Jose State University.

In 2005, five years after his father retired, Jonathan Souza returned to Fortuna High School as its music director. But one week from Sunday, he'll be leaving the Eel River Valley, a place where he's spent most of his childhood, for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Souza will become the music director at the American School of Puerto Vallarta. His wife Christina Souza will become the school's librarian.

"I have always been open to the possibility of living internationally and working abroad if the opportunity presented itself," Jonathan Souza said. "We decided with our kids being 5 and 7, it would be a good time for us to go as well as a good professional opportunity."

The American School in Puerto Vallarta is a private school that offers bilingual education to students from preschool through 12th grade. Souza said he'll be teaching general classroom music with an emphasis on local music to students from preschool through sixth-grade. He'd also like to start a choir for seventh- and eighth-graders at the school, as well as high school students.

Michael McClimon, who was a music teacher for elementary schools in Fortuna when Raymond Souza taught at the high school, said Jonathan Souza has always been serious about music. In addition to teaching at Fortuna High School, Jonathan Souza has collaborated with the Humboldt Light Opera, often appearing in lead roles for performances, McClimon said. Jonathan Souza, like his father, was also interested in computers, he said.

"He was a good kid," McClimon said. "He was very active and very involved in Humboldt Light Opera not only as an actor on stage, but he helped train the chorus at the time."

This year, Jonathan Souza was a recipient of the Wells Fargo Stage Coach outstanding teacher award for Humboldt and Del Norte counties. In previous years, he also won Fortuna High School principal's award and the California Association of Music Education's outstanding music educator of the year for the association's North Coast section.

At Fortuna High School, Jonathan Souza directed the school's two choirs as well as its concert band and marching band. He also taught the school's digital recording and music technology class. Fortuna High School Principal Kevin Scheffler said this was the first year the school implemented the music technology class.

"I thought that the students' work in there and those skills they learned were extremely important," he said. "They were definitely employable skills they can use in the future."

As he gets ready to leave Fortuna High School, Jonathan Souza said one of his favorite memories is seeing a student finally "get it" after struggling with a problem. He also remembers watching Fortuna's marching band march down Main Street USA at Disneyland.

"Teaching music was just the right fit for me and my family," he said. "I love doing it."