Attention Becton! Please welcome one of the newest staff members Tommy Sansone III! Sansone has just freshly graduated college and is eager to help Becton’s music department thrive. He has taken the role of the marching band director, music director for the drama club, and a one-on-one aid at BHS. Sansone began his musical journey about thirteen years ago when he decided to start playing the trombone. He then decided to bring his musical talent onto the field during his freshman year of high school. Towards the beginning of his high school career, he wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon; however, he then stumbled down a different path and changed his mind his senior year. “I applied to schools for biology, with the intention of going into medicine. Part of the reason I chose to attend Rutgers was because it had a marching band and two med schools.” Sansone knew in his heart that he wanted to continue with the marching band. He began to fuel his deep passion for music and decided to make the switch to music education during admissions. 

Senior Drum Major, Erol Yilmaz, who has been part of the Wildcat marching band for six years now, was shell-shocked at the announcement of a new band director. Nonetheless, as Becton students do, Yilmaz welcomed Sansone with open arms and an open heart. Yilmaz expresses how he admires that Sansone can balance commitment and focus, while also implementing some fun! Yilmaz vulnerably shares, “He is just as much a friend to me as he is a teacher.” To add,  Sansone is also the new music director for the Wildcat Theatre Program. Yilmaz loves having Sansone part of the production, saying “I can see that everyone enjoys how he runs meetings. He brings a lot of joy to the music days, especially with the calisthenic warm-ups he does with us before every practice. Ultimately, we have learned much more than just the B flat scale.” Yilmaz also enjoys when Sansone sings and plays random songs during any downtime while at practice. Sansone makes it a priority to keep his students engaged in the music, but also allows time for silliness and laughter. 

Sansone is very much tied into the school community. Not only is he involved with the theatre program and marching band, but he is also a full-time one-on-one aid. “There is a lot of push on learning about special education at Rutgers, and just education in general. I had to take about five classes just for special education.” While Sansone’s main focus while at Rutgers was music education, he did not hesitate to seize the “packaged deal,” at Becton as he put it, of a full-time teacher aid and marching band director. The duality of Sansone’s education makes him a better teacher for his students of all different types. Finally, when Sansone was asked how he would make the band better in a few years, he exclaimed, “I don’t want to do that in a few years. I want to do that now.”