User:Jcronen

I'm Jim Cronen, the conductor of America's Pep Band from 1997-1998.

I formerly worked for Bloomberg LP (1996-1997), SunGard Insurance Systems in Natick, MA (1999-2003), and Amici LLC (now Xerox) (2003-2004).

I graduated RPI with a bachelor's degree in physics in 1996 and a master's degree in 1999. I currently work as a physics and chemistry teacher at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School in Schenectady, NY.

Year-by-Year

• 1993-1994: Played euphonium. Arranged Sit on My Face for the band with Jeff Cutler and Aaron Williams. Roadtripped with the band to Lake Placid for the ECAC Tournament. We did not win.
• 1994-1995: Played euphonium. Roadtripped to the north country (Clarkson and St. Lawrence) and got snowed in to get a rare two-night road trip. We also went back to Lake Placid for the ECAC Tournament and stayed in the White Sled. We did win.
• 1995-1996: Played euphonium, occasionally picking up the trombone here and again. Played euphonium for one game a mere 32 hours after getting my wisdom teeth removed. Made it most of the way into the second period, after which I decided the pain was getting to be too much and I moved over to snare for the rest of the game.
• 1996-1997: Lived in Summit, New Jersey and worked at Bloomberg LP in Manhattan. Robin Thomas, my then-girlfriend and now-wife, was still attending RPI and so I was up to visit every other weekend. The tuba section was down to zero, so I volunteered to play sousaphone before the first football game. Learned sousaphone in the hour between the end of rehearsal and the start of the football game. Played sousaphone for the rest of the year. Roadtripped to Yale (I drove up from New York City) and Lake Placid.
• 1997-1998: Served as conductor. Developed the cheer sheets during the summer of 1997. We roadtripped with the football team to Worcester State College. Roadtripped with the hockey team to Colgate and Cornell. Spearheaded the unofficial road trip to Princeton and the band's first performance at Hobey Baker Rink in more than a decade. Lost to Cornell in the ECAC Quarterfinals and did not go to Lake Placid.
• 1998-1999: Played alto saxophone. Enjoyed tormenting Bill von Achen, the new conductor. Got drunk with a few other band members before and during the game against Brown (and somehow managed to run the flag for the seventh goal and didn't die).
• since 1999: Played alto saxophone. Have come back for 1-2 games per year and Freakout every year except 2005-2006.