Biograpghy

Hello my name is Jose Manuel Fernandez Jr. I was born in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Naples, Florida when I was 11 years old. I lived near Chicago’s Midway Airport and lived two blocks away from my Catholic School, Our Lady of the Snows (Pre-School through 8th Grade). I played pee-wee soccer in Catholic School and loved it. My parents split, so my mother took me and my siblings to Naples, Florida where I finished off my 5th Grade year at Naples Park Elementary School. The transition from coming from one of the largest cities to a small one was difficult, but attending Pine Ridge Middle School helped. Pine Ridge Middle School was where I picked up the trombone in the 6th Grade. Being in the band really kept me busy and I just fell in love playing with the trombone. High School came along and attended Barron G. Collier. There I joined the Cougar Marching Band to later being its Captain the 2009-2010 year. I led the band to Superior Ratings at the Florida Bandmasters Association, which hasn’t happened since 1994. Besides being in band, the U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) attracted me because I had a strong military interest. I rose through the ranks ending as a Cadet Lieutenant Colonel my senior year. In high school, I thought about enlisting in the United States Marine Corps to play my trombone, but I chose to attend college instead hoping to get a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Scholarship from any of the three armed forces branches. I didn’t get any of the scholarships and was denied from FSU and USF. I was however accepted to University of Illinois at Chicago, Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, and Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU). Of course I couldn’t afford out of state tuition and applied to Florida Gulf Coast University.