West Valley City • Jason Weimer went to the Maverik Center on Monday night and got a $10,000 check and a handshake from pop icon Barry Manilow.
“They love you! You won!” Manilow told Weimer, a music teacher at Riverton High School, before Monday’s concert.
Manilow, known for such hit songs as “Mandy” and “Copacabana,” presented Weimer with a giant check for $10,000, as a “Manilow Music Teacher Award.” He also acknowledged Weimer from the Maverik Center stage during the concert.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Riverton High School's performing arts director Jason Weimer, left, poses for a photo with Barry Manilow before Weimer receives an award from the Manilow Music Project, an organization that supports local music programs, before Manilow's concert during his farewell tour at Maverik Center in West Valley City on Monday, July 14, 2025.
Manilow has been giving such awards to music teachers at different stops on his farewell tour. It’s part of the Manilow Music Project, which the 82-year-old singer-songwriter started 15 years ago to support underfunded music programs in schools. Since its creation, the project distributed more than $10 million in instruments and funds to music programs nationwide.
Halfway through the concert, Manilow talked about launching the project. He said he saw broken instruments at a school, and it made him realize music programs were underfunded. He said he wanted to change that.
“Even with broken-down instruments, I think the kids just love their music classes and they love their music teachers,” Manilow told the crowd. “So we thought, this time, we are going to celebrate music teachers.”
Manilow introduced Weimer and read one of the teacher’s quotes. The audience cheered and applauded.
“So happy to be able to celebrate you, Jason, we‘re proud of you,” Manilow said. “Thank you for your commitment to your music.”
The singer emphasized the importance of music in students’ lives by reminiscing about his high school years, telling the audience that he felt like a misfit before he joined the band and orchestra at his high school.
“Music classes are so much more than teaching a kid how to play the clarinet,” Manilow said. “Kids learn to interact with each other, they become better students, they become better people. Music can change a young person’s life. I know it because it happened to me.”
The two-month voting process for the award allows students and others to vote for their favorite music teacher.
Weimer said his is grateful for how his students received the news of his nomination, and how dedicated they were to vote for him.
“High school kids are pretty good at obsessing over stuff, so a lot of them told me they set alarms on their phones every day to vote,” Weimer said.
He added that any of his fellow nominees “would have been a great pick.”
“It was really humbling to hear Barry say those kind words at the concert, and seeing everybody applaud and support music education,” Weimer said. “It’s easy to get discouraged as a public educator and it is nice to see that there are a lot of people who support what we are doing.”
Half the money goes to the program at Riverton High, Weimer said, and will go to buy instruments. The other half goes to Weimer personally, and he said he will use it to pay off his grad school tuition.
Weimer teaches band, orchestra and music theory to around 200 students. He directs the orchestra and band at Riverton High. The marching band won the state championship in 2013, and has placed in the top three nine out of 10 times.
To prepare his students, he said he added some of Manilow’s songs to the class playlist.
“I play music in my classroom before school starts. Through the process, I started putting more Barry Manilow in there so they can get an idea of who he was as a musician,” the teacher said. “Some on them had started listening more and more to his music, which is great.”
The teacher said he “dreaded” being the center of attention and preferred to remain “cautiously optimistic” after his nomination.
“I feel gratitude for my family, my friends and my community,” Weimer said after receiving the award, which he hopes will inspire both parents and students.
“Parents often tell me, ‘My kid will not major in music,’” Weimer said. “I tell them, ‘I didn’t major in math, but I still use it.’”