Hey Alumni!
My name is Michael “Mike” DiGrado, and some of you may know me as one of the 2024 Saxophone Section Leaders, while others may know me as a junior transfer student. I am currently a senior graduating in May 2025, which is both exciting and scary, to say the least. Senior year approached with no hesitation, and now all I reminisce about are the fun and sax(y) shenanigans of the past two years within the Big Red Bands. While I have only been at Cornell for two years, I genuinely have felt like I have been here for all four; as a first-year (and junior), I was particularly nervous about finding a community that would essentially accept me. Additionally, as an only child and coming from a community college, this was the first time I would be alone for months. However, once I entered the band center for auditions, I knew this community would empower my maturity and lifelong friends.
Memories such as going on trips to Yale and UPenn and then seeing Men’s Hockey win at Lake Placid, my first year was filled with joy and ambition. Even as my senior year and term as section leader began, I wanted to foster the same community that once welcomed me to new members. From Homecoming to away trips to Columbia (and my first Sy Katz parade), I assembled new memories with new members and current friends. Even during winter break, when a couple of us went to play with the alumni band, I knew I had made the right decision to join both the band and Cornell. As the months to graduation keep shrinking, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to always be your true, authentic self. I wouldn’t be in this position without the band or finding great people with whom I can engage in deep conversations. Thank you, band, and I will continue to cherish these memories everywhere I go (even though I will be at Cornell until 2027 for my Master’s, which means I have two more years with the band)!
Holding onto the memories forever,
Michael “Mike” DiGrado