So we just mentioned Monday how so many students give of their time to represent Baylor in competition — not only in athletics, but across a variety of fields. Since then, I’ve come across two recent examples of Baylor students excelling on a national level; one group reached the Elite Eight, while another brought home a national championship for BU!
We’ve covered Baylor’s historically prestigious Glenn R. Capp Debate Forum before on Baylor Proud, and they were at it again last month, as juniors John Cook and Ashley Morgan reached the quarterfinals of the National Debate Tournament before falling to the eventual national champions, a team from Northwestern. Baylor was the last team from Texas left in this year’s tournament, adding another outstanding finish to a resume that includes three national championships and nine Final Four appearances.
Outdoing even the debaters, a six-member trumpet ensemble from Baylor’s School of Music won first place and was awarded $4,000 at the National Trumpet Competition last month in Fairfax, Va. The title-winning team — made up of graduate students Steffen Baral and Beth Peroutka, seniors Simon Bosch, Andy Lott and Chelsea Orr, and sophomore Manny Munoz — performed “Abstracts No. 2,” composed by Robert Russell and arranged by Wiff Rudd, BMEd ’77, professor of trumpet and brass area chair at Baylor. (See that performance in the video below.) Baylor was the only university to have two teams among the competition’s seven recognized finalists, as another four-member ensemble (junior Joseph Underwood, and freshmen Tyler Brinkman, Ben Hauser and Taylor Williamson) was also recognized.
(In a further demonstration of their dedication to Baylor, the trumpet students actually missed the awards ceremony at the competition in order to get back to Waco for a performance of the Shostakovich 7th Symphony with the Baylor Symphony, a selection that featured a double-sized brass section.)
Sic ’em, Bears!
[We learned of this story from a Bear who shared her Baylor pride. Do you know of an inspiring story, news item, or just a fun link that makes you proud of Baylor and the Baylor family? Let us know! Click here to submit your point of pride!]
