Andy Jarrette - he/him

Mr. J

Electives Teacher

ajarrette@sierraacademy.net

Mr. J picked up a skateboard 40 years ago, after first dabbling in BMX, and has never looked back. Growing up in Grass Valley, he spent his childhood skating, hiking, camping, exploring the local rivers and lakes, and pretty much doing anything that kept him outside. That love of skateboarding, the outdoors, and his community has remained a constant throughout his life. After graduating from Nevada Union in the mid-1990s, Mr. J attended a private college in the Midwest, where he majored in Environmental Science. He continued skating just as much as ever and, like so many people do during their college years, began figuring out who he was and what mattered most to him.

He returned home to Grass Valley and became an integral part of the opening of the Grass Valley Skate Park, helping run the camps and programs that followed. After waiting years for a local skate park, he finally had one in his own backyard. He spent the next several years skating it with friends, traveling around the country in search of great skate parks, and generally having an absolute blast.

In the mid-2000s, Mr. J decided to return to school, enrolling in a local teaching credential program through National University. He went on to earn both his Teaching Credential and a Master’s degree in Education. After a couple of colorful years as a substitute teacher, and meeting his future wife along the way, he landed his first full-time teaching position at Sierra Montessori Academy, where he taught fourth and fifth grade.

A few years later, life took him in an unexpected direction when he began helping his wife run their restaurant in nearby Auburn. To his surprise, he loved the fast-paced world of hospitality. That new passion eventually took him to the Hilton in Hawaii and later to The Ritz-Carlton in Lake Tahoe. Through every move, career change, and new adventure, skateboarding remained a constant.

Wherever he lived and whatever he was doing for work, he kept skating. When COVID brought Mr. J and his wife back home to Grass Valley six years ago, his professional life and his lifelong love of skateboarding finally came together. He became the manager of GoodTimes, where he had briefly worked in the early 2000s. Back in his hometown and surrounded once again by longtime skate friends, as well as a whole new generation of local skaters, Mr. J found an opportunity to put decades of experience and love for skateboarding directly into the community that helped shape him.

Today, he puts everything he has into the local skate community, from keeping GoodTimes stocked with the latest gear to organizing skate contests, events, and programs. He loves what he does and takes pride in finding ways to support the shop, encourage young skaters, and strengthen the community that has been such a big part of his own life. Last year, Mr. J had the opportunity to help with the SKATE Elective at SAEL. Now, he is thrilled to take over the program and return to teaching, this time bringing together two things that have shaped so much of his life: education and skateboarding.

The local skate community has always been strong, and Mr. J believes it can become even stronger. He sees more skate parks, more opportunities for young people to skate, and more skate programs finding their way into schools. Most of all, after 40 years on a skateboard, he is excited to share something that has been a part of nearly his entire life with the next generation, and he plans to do whatever he can to help them find their own place in the skate community.