This month, the Arts department chose to pick a student they think deserves recognition for their hard work. Ian Som, a senior at Athens Drive, was nominated by the Arts department as Jag of the Month.

“He not only plays classical music very well, he can also play jazz very well, and he’s learned a lot about leading a jazz band and improvising and everything that comes with being a fine jazz player,” said Jerome Markoch, Band Director.

Ian has played the alto saxophone for about 6 years, and has recently started playing the tenor saxophone as well. Ian is a very talented saxophone player with many years of experience, and recently he played in a concert in Nashville, Tennessee. He’s played in many different school performances, including this year’s musical, marching band, jazz band, class band, and Saxotonix.

“It feels good to be recognized for a lot of the hard work I’ve put in. I don’t think it’s mentioned enough how much time students invest in their extracurriculars. I’ve truly spent the last four years of my life in this program; I lived through it. Hours were dedicated not only to my musical skill, but also to the development of others,” said Som.

Ian recently performed in the National Saxophone Conference in Nashville and played among many professional musicians, college music students, and people with doctorates in saxophone. He also played someone else’s piece while on the trip. While his bandmate couldn’t perform because he had gotten sick with the flu right before the trip, Ian stepped in and learned the piece on the way to the performance and performed it at the conference later on.

“I remember there was this one group that was entirely made up of saxophone doctorates. Their sounds were immensely moving and powerful. The trip gave our group something significant to strive for. It also provided the opportunity to witness the peaks of musical performance. It was an amazing opportunity that I am immensely thankful for,” said Som.