He is in several music groups: the Small Jazz Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble (avant-garde music and new music for percussion), and the Latin American ensemble (marimba, recently focusing on Nicaraguan folk music). He has also composed several pieces that have been performed by UCSC ensembles. For example, one of the jazz ensembles performed a swing instrumental that he wrote called Swag. Will also regularly collaborates with graduate students who write compositions and ask him to perform them.

"The Music Department is a smaller department, so I know almost everyone who is majoring in music here, and I have become friends with the students I’m playing music with," Will says. "The professors are also very approachable."

Will has performed with the jazz ensembles since freshman year. "The teacher switches the groups around each quarter, so I’ve gotten to play with a lot of different musicians, who have different styles of playing," he says. "The Music Department covers a wide range of music styles, which is good, because I’ve been able to play classical, jazz, and even South American music."

While taking classes at UCSC, Will has discovered a new interest: American studies. "In my freshman year, I took America and the Americans. It was really interesting, and I was very engaged in the discussions with the other students," he says. "American studies has taught me to look critically at our country, its government, and the way information is distributed."

Will comes to UCSC from Hamilton, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Hamilton Wenham Regional High School, and so he appreciates Santa Cruz with its warm weather and year-'round outdoor recreation season. "I love the area and the campus. Being from Boston, I’m used to cold winters, so I enjoy the milder weather," he says. "I surf, and in the winter I sometimes go to Tahoe to ski. There are a lot of opportunities around here for outdoor sports." He has an identical twin brother at Stanford, so they're able to visit each other on the weekends.

"Since coming to Santa Cruz, I’ve grown more independent and more confident," he says. "I’m away from my twin brother, whom I grew up with, and I don’t have the support of my family, so I had to learn to start dealing with things myself. My independence has helped me focus in school and get things done. I’ve become far more focused on music, and I’ve realized what it takes to become a good musician, the hours of practice it takes."

After graduating, Will plans to live in New York City and work in the music industry, hopefully entering the field of film scoring.