Cameron Akin, jazz band director at Waco High School, enjoys teaching and mentoring younger jazz students at Tennyson, is a Waco High feeder school.
District building strong jazz foundation
Outstanding high school fine arts programs are built with top flight teachers, gifted students, supportive parents, and most importantly, strong instruction at the feeder school level. Because all these factors exist, the Jazz Cats at Waco High School continue to be one of the premier group of musicians in the Heart of Texas.
On Saturday, March 23, the Jazz Cats received Division One ratings across the board from a panel of judges at the 22nd Annual Temple College Jazz Festival. Not surprisingly, the Tennyson Middle School Jazz Band did the same thing. Next year, many of the Tennyson musicians will be at Waco High. The future is bright.
Waco High also cornered the market on Outstanding Musicianship award winners in Temple including Matthew Garcia (bass guitar), Kurt Kranz (guitar), Sterling Long (trombone), Deleyon Roberts (drums) and Josue Villanueva (tenor saxophone).
Tennyson had three students who received Outstanding Musicianship awards: Sarah Brown (alto saxophone), Carnealus Manning (also saxophone), and Parrish Cobb (drums).
The Jazz Cats are under the direction of Cameron Akin, assistant band director at Waco High, who also works with Tennyson jazz students. Sarah Harris and Blake Warren are band directors at Tennyson.