Prior to his appointment at Culver-Stockton College, Mr. Christian has extensive teaching experience in the public school system as a music educator. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Culver-Stockton College (2003), a Master of Education in Administration from William Woods University (2015), and a Master in Music Education from the University of West Georgia (2021). Over his 16 years as a high school band director, his bands were very active in marching and jazz events regionally, consistently placing in the top 3 or receiving top honors in jazz festivals, parades, and field competitions. His marching bands have traveled and participated in several national events across the country including the 2006 State Street Thanksgiving Day Parade (Chicago, IL), 2008 Liberty Bowl Halftime (Memphis, TN) with national recording artist Sara Evans. His band also finished in the top 5 at the Battle of the Bands Marching Competition on World Famous Beale Street, 2009 Pep band performed at Show-Me Games (Columbia, MO), 2010 represented the state of Missouri in the National Independence Day Parade (Washington DC), 2012 Gator Bowl Halftime (Jacksonville, FL), 2015 Big Bay Balloon Parade and Holiday Bowl Halftime (San Diego, CA), 2018 Alamo Bowl Halftime (San Antonio, TX). In 2019,

Mr. Christian has returned to his alma mater of Culver-Stockton College to resurrect a marching band program that has been nonexistent for over 50 years. Christian built a 40+ member college marching band for Culver-Stockton in one year of recruiting and debuted C-SC's "Thrill on the Hill" Marching Band in September 2020.

A native of Charlottesville, Virginia, Emily Trapani is a seasoned music educator pursuing her master's degree in wind conducting at UMKC. Prior to her time in Kansas City, Emily was the band director at Lawrence Central High School, in Indianapolis, Indiana from 2017-2022. Ensembles under Emily’s direction consistently earned gold ratings at the Indiana State School Music Association’s Concert Band Organizational and State Finals events. In 2019 and 2022 the Lawrence Central Wind Ensemble was ranked 2nd and 3rd in the I.S.S.M.A. Concert Band State Finals Event respectively. 

Ms. Trapani served as marching band director, woodwind specialist, choreographer, and music ensemble instructor for the Marching Pride of Lawrence Township from 2017 to

2022. During this tenure, the Marching Pride of Lawrence Township was an annual Indiana BOA Super Regional Finalist, and regular Grand Nationals Semi-Finalist, finishing the 2019 season with a rank of 14th in the nation.

In 2023, Emily was awarded the Martha Ann Stark leadership award by the Women's Band Directors International Association and is a Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honors Society member. Emily earned her bachelor's degree in music education from East Carolina University in 2015.

William D. Schaffer recently retired after 26 years of teaching, the last 22 as Director of Bands in the Wright City School District. Previously, he was the band director at Elsberry and Portageville and served as an educational consultant for two St. Louis area music stores after spending four years of active duty as a US Army Bandsman and an additional 8 years of reserve time.

Mr. Schaffer graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a BME and completed a MM in Performance with an emphasis in trombone, euphonium, and trumpet from Arkansas State University and a Masters in Wind Conducting from the University of Arkansas.

In addition to his duties with the Wright City Band program, Mr. Schaffer was the Chair of the Wright City District Professional Development Committee and served as High School Golf Coach for 21 years. He has coached middle school football, high school baseball and has also served as the Wright City District A+ Coordinator. In 2013, he was named the Wright City R-II District Teacher of the year. He is a member of NaFME, MMEA, MBA, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and was named a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction in 2009 by the National Society of High School Scholars.

Under his direction, the Wright City program competed and performed in concert, marching, and jazz competitions in Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Illinois, and Tennessee. The band was selected to perform three times in Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis and was selected to perform at the Missouri Educators Association Conference in 2016.

Danielle Welch has been a member of the marching band and color guard community for over 30 years. She began as a performer in high school in the late 80s and performed with her college band in the early 90s. She has gone on to design marching, winter guard, and winter drumline shows, direct guard, coach guard & percussion, and choreographs for a number of bands and color guards in Missouri and Illinois. In addition, she has spent the last twenty years teaching marching and maneuvering, color guard technique, and dance. After retiring from directing a number of years ago, she began her judging career, judging the color guard caption, as well as an individual visual, visual effect and general effect in fall and equipment, design analysis, and general effect for both guard and percussion in the winter. Danielle received her judge's training through the Winter Guard International (WGI) Judge's Academy and has judged in a number of states, including Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Nebraska, lowa, and New Mexico. Danielle currently
resides in Washington, Missouri with her husband.

Dr. Tracy Thomas is an educator/composer/percussionist/adjudicator based out of Troy, Mo. Since early in his collegiate years, Tracy has been an active clinician throughout the region. He has degrees from both Missouri Western State University and the University of Kansas, where he completed his doctorate in 2010. His compositions have been performed by numerous ensembles and soloists throughout the United States and abroad. His piece, Three Songs for Voice and Marimba, won third prize in the 2008 Percussive Arts Society International Composition Competition.

Christopher Agwu is a music educator, conductor, and clinician from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex currently pursuing his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory. Christopher serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for his teacher and mentor Steven D. Davis. Prior to attending UMKC, he received his Bachelor of Music Education from the University of North Texas where he studied trumpet with John Holt and Keith Johnson, and his Master of Musical Arts at Texas Tech University where he studied conducting with Dr. Sarah McKoin. 

Between receiving his Bachelor’s degree and his Master’s degree, Christopher taught in the North Texas area at Plano Independent School District and Lewisville Independent School District. Christopher has stayed active in the marching and pageantry arts since marching with the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps in 2003 and the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps in 2006 and 2007. The ensembles he has worked with or led have been finalists and/or champions in WGI, BOA, and DCI regional and national competitions. 

Christopher strongly believes in the power that music has in creating community among people from all walks of life. Through this belief, he strives to use his love for creating music with others as a way of positively developing himself, developing the ones he creates music with, and developing the ones who get to experience music as audience members. 

Nick Pastor has been an educator in the St. Louis area from 2016 until present. This includes schools such as Wentzville, Liberty, and Francis Howell, where his roles have been anything from Tech, to Visual Director, to Percussion Coordinator. Along with this, Nick has worked with the St. Louis native group Freedom Indoor Percussion from 2019-2021. 

Nick received a bachelor's degree from Lindenwood University in 2022, where he was a part of their Percussion program, performing pieces like 8 on 3 and 9 on 2. He has also been a part of the marching arts from 2013 until he aged out in 2018 with DCI groups like 7th Regiment and Spirit of Atlanta, and WGI groups such as Freedom Percussion, Gateway Indoor, and Cavaliers Indoor. 

He currently resides in St. Charles, where he is working to further his education in business administration.

Sandi Ellis has been a color guard performer, choreographer, instructor, and judge in the Midwest for more than 30 years. She performed throughout high school and college, including two trips to the Tournament of Rose Parade, and groups for whom she has written have performed at numerous college football bowl parades. Sandi is a long-time staff member at the Central Iowa Color Guard Camp and has been a choreographer and instructor at other camps in Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois. The Iowa high school marching bands with whom she has worked range in size from Class 2A - 4A, and she currently is the instructor with the award-winning Dallas Center - Grimes Marching Mustangs.