For the 2018 season, we have some exciting changes with our color guard. With some returning names but many new faces, it is sure to be an exciting year for our color guard.
Returning now as our color guard caption head is Alex Bolender. Alex was a member of The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps in 2012 and 2013, The Cavaliers in 2014, and then would age out in 2015 with The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. He was also a member of the San Diego based Vox Artium Winter Guard since their inaugural season in 2012 until his age out in 2017. Alex teaches and consults for several high school programs in San Diego, including Vista High School, Helix Charter High School, and Rancho Bernardo High School.
Our assistant caption head is Nikki Szymanski. Nikki is currently a sixth-grade math and science teacher in Grove City Ohio where she is also the director of the Central Crossing High School Colorguard. Starting her pageantry experiences in the fourth grade she continued to flourish as a member of Maumee High Schools Marching Band, Winterguard, and Indoor Drumline. Nikki’s Marching experience includes The Glassmen, The Academy, The Cadets, and Juxtaposition Winterguard.
Joining us as a choreographer is Tim Coady. Tim Coady is a native of Missouri and currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. His performance background includes several years of participation in both Zydeco Colorguard and the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps. Tim has a passion for inspiring students through colorguard and has worked with many band programs across the Midwest. Tim currently serves as the colorguard director at Lakota West High School and Miami University. Tim also is in his fourth year teaching at Juxtaposition Winter Guard and also serves as the colorguard designer for DCA’s 2017 A Class Champion, Cincinnati Tradition.
Returning as one of our technicians is Tracy Bolduc where she is bringing over 25 years of color guard experience. She began her color guard career with St. John’s color guard of Beverly, Massachusetts; performing with them for 10 years and coaching various high school programs for another 15 years. St. John’s won several eastern Massachusetts championships over the years, but Tracy’s proudest moments were coaching the team to a WGI class A bronze medal in 2003, and gold in 2005. Tracy was also part of the Spartans color guard staff as they captured DCI open class gold in 2004.
Also returning for the 2018 season is Austin Horton. He has had marching experience in the DCI Activity marching for the Blue Knights for three years (‘13-‘15) and is a second-year member marching with CGT Dallas during the WGI season. Austin currently teaches three schools in Texas and has choreographed multiple groups throughout the Northwest Region.
New to the team this year is Andrew Seebaran. Andrew currently lives in Dallas, Texas and started his color guard journey at Plano East Senior High. There he would soon discover that his love for dance and the color guard world would end up with him being a member of The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps for 4 consecutive years and 2 of those years as the Guard Sergeant (2014-17). He spent 1 indoor season with CGT Dallas in IO (2016) and 1 more season with them in IW (2017) and is now a first-year staff member with the CGT Dallas and Denton teams.
Another addition to the team is Sarah Chilcote. Sarah started her drum corps career at The Glassmen in 2011, from there she marched with Phantom Regiment in 2012-2013. Sarah was also a member of Interplay Winter Guard in 2012-2015, Santa Clara Vanguard Winter Guard in 2016 and Bluecoats Indoor Winter Guard in 2018. She really enjoys teaching and has been an instructor at Mandarins Drum Corps in 2015 and several programs in Michigan and California.
Alberto Torres is also a new technician on our color guard team. Alberto currently resides in Houston, Tx, where he started his color guard career in 2007. He is currently in his tenth season in the activity, teaching at La Porte HS in La Porte, Tx. He has marched with various independent winterguard programs, such as ATX Winterguard and Redemption Guard, as well as performed with drum corps such as Crossmen and Boston Crusaders.
Also joining us for 2018 is Sarah Abdulal. Sarah has an extensive teaching career across Southern California. Upon graduating from Bonita Vista High School in 2006, Sarah would begin teaching at Vista High School, where she is currently the director of the color guard. She is also currently the director of the color guard at Rancho Bernardo High School. Additionally, Sarah designs and consults for numerous groups in the San Diego area. Sarah performed with Lealta Winterguard from 2008-2011. She is also one of the founding members of Vox Artium Performing Arts, where she currently spends her weekends instructing. In 2011 she taught at Gold Drum and Bugle Corps and then taught at the Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets from 2012-2014.
Esti Afanador is also joining us for the 2018 season. She lives in Roswell, Georgia and is currently a student at Kennesaw State University. She directs Roswell HS colorguard and is on staff at Lambert HS colorguard and drumline. In addition to teaching, Esti has performed with Spirit of Atlanta (2012), ALLIANCE Drum and Bugle corps (2014, 2015), The Edge Independent (2013-2015) , The Bluecoats (2016), and she is currently a performing member of Paramount World Winterguard (2016 – 2018).
Learn more about all of our instructional staff by visiting the Design and Education Staff page.
