Ramon Niño III has been the Director of Mariachi Espuelas de Plata at North Side High School since 2004, where he served as Director of Bands for 10 of those teaching years. Under his leadership, Mariachi Espuelas de Plata has represented North Texas five consecutive years at the Texas High School Finals Competition, has been selected as a showcase ensemble at various mariachi conferences throughout the United States and was most recently featured on stage at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Niño is the TMEA Region 7 Mariachi Coordinator and serves on the Texas UIL Ad-Hoc Mariachi Committee. In 2013, Mr. Niño co-presented a clinic at the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention on the topic of mariachi. In 2014, Mr. Nino presented and co-presented three clinics at the TMEA convention. For the 2013-2014 academic school year, Mr. Nino was selected as the North Side High School Teacher of the Year and was selected as the Bayard H. Friedman Chair for Teaching Excellence in Performing Arts.