• Extended Baylor ties connect BU freshman with ‘The President’s Own’ Marine Band

    Spencer Sosnowski with "The President's Own" Marine Band

    Each year, “The President’s Own” Marine Band hosts a national concerto competition for woodwinds, brass and percussionists who have not yet completed high school. Twelve finalists are chosen based on recorded submissions and flown to Washington, D.C., for the final round of competition. This spring’s winner? Spencer Sosnowski, now a freshman music (saxophone) major at Baylor from Rockwall, Texas.

    But here’s where the story gets interesting. The teacher who prepared Sosnowski for the competition, Joey Resendez, turns out to be a Baylor School of Music graduate himself (Class of 2003).

    And the Baylor connections don’t stop there. For winning the competition, Sosnowski got to perform with the Marine Band at a concert in March in Alexandria, Va. (pictured above). Among the members of the Marine Band? Gunnery Sergeant Steve Longoria, BME ’96, the ensemble’s lead alto saxophone player.

    Resendez and Longoria both studied saxophone at Baylor with Dr. Michael Jacobson — who is now Sosnowski’s saxophone professor.

    So we have the student winner, the student winner’s teacher, and the lead alto sax in this prestigious ensemble — each of whom not only attended Baylor, but who studied with the same Baylor professor.

    Sic ’em, Baylor saxophonists!