by Owen Marchand, WTOP10-TV

Fall is an exciting time for the Marching Buccaneers as they approach the Syracuse finals. The Oswego High School Marching Band is gearing up to compete in the state championships held at the Carrier Dome. This is a huge event that is celebrated by both the marching bands, and anyone who loves a good show.

The music program at Oswego High School takes pride in music education and the arts as it is full of opportunities and has something for everyone interested in music. They have multiple bands such as jazz and orchestras, and even an annual “Festival of Winds.”

The months of September and October prove to be challenging yet exciting months for the Marching Buccaneers as they are practicing, performing, and then doing it all over again. On October 15 they competed in New Hartford, followed by the Central Square competition on October 22, and now they prepare for the NYSFBC (New York State Field Band Conference) Championships at the Carrier Dome on October 30.

In last year’s Carrier Dome championships, The Oswego High School Marching Band came in 4th place during show 3 (Small School 1 Class) with a score of 85. Every year thousands of students and dozens of bands perform a show in front of judges where they will be graded based on both their visual and musical performance.

The first Championship was in 1974 and only consisted of eleven bands participating. In the past years there have been around fifty bands participating and has even had participants from outside New York State such as Connecticut and New Jersey.

The Marano Campus Center was packed with hundreds of students to see one of SUNY Oswego’s most famous alumni on Oct. 16.

Al Roker not only came for the Media Summit, but hosted his show ‘Wake Up with Al’ and ‘Today’ in the Marano Campus Center at 6 a.m.

There were students there who had lined up at the Marano Campus Center since 12 a.m.

Al Roker was willing to take photos with the students and took a few selfies with them as well.

He was able to show off his old college campus and shine a light on it as well.

Al Roker participated in the 10th annual Media Summit along with Charlie Rose, Dennis Thatcher, Connie Shultz, and hosted by Ken Auletta.

Photo By Al Roker (Facebook)

By Fan Shi

OSWEGO, NY– SUNY Oswego’s career services held a graduate school fair and career fair to help students prepare for their December graduation and some international students were searching for a promising future.

International student Zhixing Zhai said that he is nervous for graduation and hopes to find an opportunity that will allow him to stay in the United States.

“You can see a lot of opportunities and chances here because there are so many universities. But you are not sure which one you are going to get in eventually. And this process made me very stressful,” Zhai said.

Other international students said they are struggling to find jobs. South Korean Senior Soyoung Moon said she finds it is difficult to accomplish a perfect resume.

“The resume structure between our country and the United States is very different.” Soyoung said.

SUNY Oswego career services offers help to students trying to put together a resume. They have a resource room where someone works with students in resume writing, guiding them towards internships and doing the same with job opportunities. Some of their other services include taking professional photos for LinkedIn profiles and helping students plan their future.

SUNY Oswego director of Career Service Gary Morris said they are improving their services for international students.

“We have some staff members who are kind of specialize to the systems we can give advantage to the international students. We try to stay a breath of the changing landscape of visa. We explore different products and software online like going global that details information that literally hundreds of countries out there to help our professional staff and our students staff better understand and be sense to the culture differences in different countries,” Morris said.

For more information on SUNY Oswego’s Career Services, visit https://www.oswego.edu/career-services/.