Cal Band Spotlight: Alyssa Ransom

Meet Alyssa Ransom, first-year phonez (alto saxophone) player and champion chicken catcher!

As an SPCA volunteer back in the 6th grade, Alyssa discovered her chicken-catching abilities while caring for 10 energetic chicks that hatched from a feisty hen. With her grandmother, she raised all of them, even while living in a city environment.

Now, she now majors in Molecular and Cell Biology and volunteers at the Glass Lab, studying how fungi can degrade lignin as a biofuel. She’s also a spirited music tutor for Music Connection, working with a 4th grade trumpet player from John Muir Elementary School.

Her ultimate role model is Beyoncé who “knows that what she does is herself.”