Mark Negro - President
mfn3639@rit.edu

Mark Negro is from Wynantskill, NY ( just outside of Albany). He is a 3rd year Mechanical Engineer (Aero option). He plays percussion for the band. He started playing in 5th grade, and has been drumming and tapping on everything in reach since then. He also plays guitar for his own leisure, which he started playing in 8th grade. Other interests include soccer, racquetball (and many other sports), listening to music (DMB is a favorite), building stuff ( he built a small 22mph motor boat and a coffee table for this apartment), writing long e-mails, and spelling words horribly wrong. When not in class or with the Pep Band, Mark likes to spend his free time practicing his extreme knitting skills. In order to save money for college, Mark raises his own sheep and spins the yarn himself. One day, he hopes to compete at the Extreme Knitting World Championship. In addition to knitting competitively, Mark has been known to donate his skills to local senior living homes in the colder months of the year to ensure that all the old people have itchy-scratch woven wool undergarments. Mark takes great care with these, as they need to hold occasional leakage accidents. In order to pay his way through his 5 year program at school, Mark has opened a small business selling hand knitted bathing suites. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors and are particularly handy during Rochester's winter months. Said knitting skills have been put to use competing in local underground competitions in preparation for the Extreme Knitting World Championship. So far Mark has gained the title of Fastest Knitting Whippersnapper.


Patrick Sweazey - Vice President
pjs7382@rit.edu

Patrick Sweazey is a second year Mechanical Engineering Technology student. He is from Lansing, NY, a small town in Central New York located near Cornell University . He plays trumpet for the band, and has been playing since 4th grade. Other interests include playing most sports, weightlifting, and wakeboarding. Pat is obsessed with sportbikes and motorcycles in general, but he is slowing adapting to pedaling a bike while at college. In an attempt to recreate the effects of wrecking on a motorcycle, Pat has been known to go to the extents of biking naked with cheese graters tied to his bear skin as he hangs on to random cars on Jefferson to achieve the ideal speed. Pat also enjoys a warm cup of hot coco on a cold winter day. Pat can also be seen around campus with his pet orangutan, Fifi. Pat found Fifi in a gutter when she was just an infant and the two have been best buddies ever since. Pat has taught Fifi a variety of tricks including dancing, rolling over, and stealing peoples wallets. Note: Please be careful if you see Pat and Fifi together on campus. Do not confuse who is who; Fifi is very insulted by this. Among normal sports, Pat also partakes in Octopush. He is known by the Octopush community for having the coolest pusher who is decked out in bling.


Amanda Preske - Secretary
aep1266@rit.edu

Amanda Preske is a fourth year Chemistry Major. She is from Camillus, NY (west side of Syracuse!). She is currently the secretary for Pep Band and has played the clarinet since the 4.15th grade. Her other interests include running her own jewelry business, painting, seeking things that are lime green, and being too tall. Another past-time of Amanda is modeling. She has made full scale models of The Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, and the trees outside of the White House. This models were, of course, made with strike-anywhere matchsticks. After multiple close encounters with flaming models, Amanda has chosen to spend her time raising and herding unicorns. All of her unicorns have been genetically enhanced with lime green fur to make them visible during their flights. Apart from pursuing her MCD (master of chemical disaster), Amanda moonlights as a solo jazz clarinetist in NYC. She says she only regrets the long nightly commute as it takes time away from her unicorn friends. Amanda has also been attempting to breed some of her unicorns with bald eagles to create the first real life "Pegasus." She hopes to win the Nobel Prize if she is successful and wants to use the money from it to recreate more mythical creatures.


Rachel Rattner - Treasurer
rjr6656@rit.edu

Rachel Rattner is in her third year at RIT studying Biotechnology. She is from New Hyde Park, NY (on Long Island). She is currently the Treasurer of the Pep Band and has played the trombone since the 4th grade. Her other interests include swimming, life guarding, bowling, listening to music, and being Jewish. It was said that once, while life guarding, Rachel saved an entire family of eight, including the mother, the father, two sets of twin babies, the older brother, and the grandma, while simultaneously cataloguing the underwater flora and fauna. She did this all with just the clapper and the easy button. One of Rachel's best friends' is Pam. Not Pam, a person, but PAM, the non-stick cooking spray. They can be seen holding hands, sharing milkshakes, and spending late nights together. PAM has helped change Rachel's outlook on life. She no longer takes insults personally as her motto is "anything you say or do bounces off of me and sticks to you". She is currently focussing her undergraduate research on integrating PAM spray bottles into the human body. These will be targeted at low income family who have children that need a boost in self-esteem.


Mike Polimeni - Conductor
mdp5186@rit.edu

Michael Polimeni is a Second Year Mechanical Engineering Student. He is from Ridgewood, NJ (45min North West of NYC). He is the currently the Conductor for the Pep Band, but has played Alto Saxophone and Sousaphone his First Year in the Pep Band. He has Played Sax since 4th grade, Sousa for 3 months last year, and has faked being able to play guitar since 3rd grade. His other interests include Martial Arts, Strength Training, and Car Performance Tuning. Mike hopes to be able to do a 2-finger Pushup before graduating RIT. Unbeknownst to many, Mike is also an underground didgeridoo player. He plays many cover songs from the disco and grunge eras. He recently partook in an international tour throughout Europe with his band, The Fluffy Bunnies. Word on the street, they are working on an album to be released by 2010 entitled, There Isn't Enough Time or Sandwiches in a Day. While not playing the didgeridoo, Mike is busy designing high-tech carbon-fiber state-of-the-art fiddle-dee-doos for his clients in the Republic of Djibouti. Mike originally had clients world wide interested in his fiddle-dee-doos, but in a tragic accident, Mike slit the jugular of a client with his own hand. This man was pronounced dead at the near-by hospital. Investigators have yet to determine how this happened, but they think it is due to Mikes' excessive hand waving while talking. Please be advised of Mike's deadly hand movements before having any interactions with him. Mike's friends have helped him realize his problem. He has been going to therapy consistently for several weeks now.