John Kregler

Color Guard Caption Manager

John Kregler is excited to return to the Blue Stars as Color Guard Caption Manager. John currently lives in Dallas, Texas where he is the Color Guard Director at Timber Creek High School in Fort Worth - a UIL 6A state qualifier and BOA Regional finalist. He has had the privilege of teaching several World-class programs, including West Broward High School (FL), Tarpon Springs High School (FL), Mayflower Winter Guard (UK), and Mirage Performance Ensemble (TX).

John is originally from Tampa, Florida, where he began his marching career at Tarpon Springs High School. He is an active choreographer and designer across the United States and internationally and holds a Bachelor's degree in Public Relations from the University of South Florida.

Malan Messemore

Color Guard Caption Manager

Malan Messemore is joining the Blue Stars for his third summer on the color guard staff. Malan co-directs at the Mirage Performance Ensemble and is also the director of color guard at Red Oak High School. He has a Bachelors of Art from The University of Texas at Arlington for Film with a Minor in Drawing.

Aside from teaching color guard, Malan is a freelance graphic designer and a tattoo enthusiast.

Michael Shapiro

Artistic Director, Color Guard Caption Supervisor

Michael Shapiro is returning to the Blue Stars as Artistic Director and Color Guard Caption Supervisor for his fifteenth year with the drum corps. Originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Michael currently lives in Dallas, Texas where he is the color guard director at Duncanville High School.

He has been the creative force behind Mayflower from the United Kingdom since 2000 and West Broward High School since 2017. He was the founder, director and designer of Corona Winter Guard and has taught and designed for many programs including CGT Dallas, CGT Denton, Tarpon Springs High School, Carroll High School, Crown Guard, and Carolina Crown.

Michael has been inducted into the WGI, WGASC, and Blue Stars Halls of Fame.

Anthony Garcia

Color Guard Staff

Anthony Garcia is returning for his fourteenth year with the Blue Stars as a color guard choreographer. Originally from Los Angeles, California, Anthony is currently the color guard director at Arcadia High School and Hart High School. He has taught and choreographed for many programs including CGT Dallas, CGT Denton and Mayflower Winter Guard. Anthony previously performed with the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps and Corona Winter Guard.

Justin Turner

Color Guard Staff

Justin began teaching the Blue Stars in 2014 after aging out with the corps for two years. He has choreographed and taught at many other organizations including Onyx World, Onyx A, The Collective, The Pride of the Netherlands, Campbell County High School, Lakota East High School, and many other local schools in the Cincinnati area. Justin is currently the head director of Campbell County High School as well as the color guard designer for The Forest Hills Marching Band.

 Justin started his performance career in 2012 with O2 Independent Open where he fell in love with the activity. He then went on to march The Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps 2012-2013, and then Onyx Independent World from 2013-2016 where he served as captain for his last season. He then joined Onyx in 2017 with a performance at The Guggenheim Museum in New York. 

 Justin Turner currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio where he works as a freelance User Experience Designer for companies across the country.

Kristen Zotti

Color Guard Staff

Kristen Zotti, is originally from Cheshire, Connecticut, where she began her marching career with the Cheshire High School Band and their Scholastic World Class Winter Guard from 2005-2009. During high school, she independently participated in the Connecticut Hurricanes DCA drum and bugle corp from 2007-2010. Following high school, Kristen performed with the Independent World Guard, Alter Ego, from 2010-2012. She then moved to Dayton, Ohio, to be with the Zydeco Winter Guard for the 2013 and 2014 seasons. As well as her winter guard endeavors, Kristen marched with the Blue Stars, for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. She now spends her summers teaching the Blue Stars. 

Kristen has been the Color Guard Director at Little Elm High School in Little Elm, Texas since 2014. In North Texas she has worked with CGT Independent groups and is currently the choreographer for several north Texas schools.

Emily Strother

Color Guard Staff

Emily Strother joins us from Dallas, TX. She is the color guard director at Braswell HS, and has also taught at numerous programs throughout the Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas regions including: Union HS, Prosper HS, Berkner HS, and Blue Valley West HS. 

Emily’s performing career includes Blue Knights (2013) and Santa Clara Vanguard (2015-2016), along with Eclectix IO (2015) and CGT Dallas (2018-2020). Emily also serves as co-director of Mirage Performance Ensemble based out of Dallas, TX. This will be Emily’s third summer with the Blue Stars (2019 - present).

Seth Thomas

Color Guard Staff

Seth Thomas is currently the Color Guard Director at Lebanon Trail High School in Frisco, Texas. Prior to his appointment at LTHS, Seth has been a technician and choreographer at Flower Mound High School while also working with various programs around the DFW Metroplex.

As a performer, Seth was a member of the WGI World Class Finalist CGT Performing Ensembles from 2016-2020. He was also a member of the 2015 Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps. He has been an educator for Drum Corps International - and currently serves on the color guard staff at the Blue Stars Drum & Bugle Corps. 

A native Texan, Seth earned his Bachelor of Science in Visual Communication and a concentration in Music Education from Texas A&M University - Commerce and currently resides in Frisco, Texas.

Josh Moore

Color Guard Staff

Joshua Moore will be returning to the Blue Stars as a staff member for the 2023 season. Joshua has worked alongside groups like Allen High School, Coppell High School, CGT Dallas/Denton, and joined the Blue Stars staff during their 2021 season. He is currently the Director of Color Guard at James Martin High School. 

He started his career in Santee, California where he competed with West Hills High School. In 2015, he took a spot with Diamante Winter Guard, returning again for the 2016 Season. During this time he also joined Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle corps for their 2015 season. In 2016, Joshua relocated to Dallas, Texas competing with Black Gold Winter Guard for their 2017 and 2018 winter seasons and went abroad during the winter of 2019 to perform with Mayflower Performing Arts. Joshua marched three summers with the Blue Stars from 2017-2019.

Joshua De Guzman

Color Guard Staff

Joshua is a Southern California native who grew up in the Ventura County area and moved to Chicago in 2015 to be closer to family.  Joshua has designed, choreographed, and taught at organizations in the Southern California and Chicagoland area.  He is currently teaching full time and is the head coach at Evanston Township HS and works with Prospect HS, Lincoln Way Community HS, Adlai E Stevenson HS, and Northwestern University.

 Joshua started Color Guard his sophomore year in HS and began teaching upon graduating and joined a local Winter Guard called Allusion where his passion for Color Guard continued to grow.  In 2003 he performed with the Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps and aged out in 2005.  In 2004 he became a member of the Corona Winter Guard and continued to march in 2006.  Recently he co-founded the Chicago Pride Guard which has performed at numerous LGBTQ+ events in the Chicagoland area.

Leah Francis

Color Guard Staff

Leah is originally from Tampa, Florida where she began her marching career at Tarpon Springs high school. She then went on to March two summers with the Blue Stars in 2018 and 2019.

In 2019 Leah moved to Dallas,Texas and marched with CGT Dallas in 2020 and Mirage Performance Ensemble in 2022!

Leah has taught with several different high schools including Tarpon Springs (SW) and Coppell high school(SO)

She is beyond excited to come back to the blue stars as a first time color guard staff member! 

Carrie Appel

Color Guard Staff

Carrie Appel’s passion for colorguard started in 2011 at the beginning of an extensive marching career, which included: Dos Pueblos HS, the UCLA Marching Band, Infinity Winterguard, Pacific Crest, Diamante, and the Santa Clara Vanguard. Carrie also had the opportunity to branch out and march in other types of performance ensembles such as the LA Pride Parade, the Rose Parade, CBDNA Intercollegiate Marching Band, and in the visual ensemble at Pulse Percussion. She received her education from UCLA and holds a bachelor's degree in World Arts and Cultures, and Visual and Performing Arts Education.

Carrie is a full-time colorguard instructor and has taught many programs in the Los Angeles area over the past seven years as a director, choreographer, and technician. She is currently the director of Whittier HS and a staff member at Arcadia HS, West (Torrance) HS, and Emerald Independent. Carrie also spent her recent summers with the Vanguard Cadets (Open Class Champions) in 2022, and with Pacific Crest in 2023.

This will be Carrie’s first year with the Blue Stars and she is so excited for the new adventure with the 2024 staff and cast.

Wesley Tyree

Color Guard Staff

Wesley Tyree graduated from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio where he earned a bachelor's in fine arts for dance. Throughout college, he was a member of a variety of performance groups including Matrix Percussion, Onyx Color Guard, Juxtaposition Color Guard, and the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps. During his time with Onyx, they were a WGI gold medalist and a WGI silver medalist. After graduation, Wesley was invited to perform and compete at nationals with the Perkin’s School of the Arts located in Norwich, New York. In 2014, they were awarded the Joe Noce Memorial Award and were the Senior Dance National Champions.

Along with competing locally and nationally, Wesley also worked with a multitude of programs throughout central Ohio while directing the guard of his alma mater, Westland High School. He also spent time in Chicago, Illinois for a year working with Lake Park High School (BOA Grand Nationals Semi-Finalists), Lincoln-Way East High School, and Lincoln-Way North High School.

Since moving to Texas in 2015, Wesley has performed with Black Gold (2016), CGT Dallas (2017, 2018), CGT Denton (2020), and most recently, Mirage (2023). Wesley has worked with many programs in the area as well. These programs include Legacy High School, McKinney High School, Aledo High School, Hebron High School, Azle High School, and Lakeview Centennial High School.

While teaching and performing in guard, Wesley worked to receive his certification in secondary dance and mathematics. Currently, Wesley is the Guard Director and a Mathematics Teacher at Plano East Senior High School, a  member of Mirage, and pursuing a master's degree in mathematics education. Wesley is excited to start his journey this summer with the Blue Stars.

Alex Serrano

Color Guard Staff

Originally from Odessa, Texas, Alex Serrano spent his DCI career marching with the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps from 2013 to 2016.  He later moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to pursue marching with CGT Denton winter guard from 2018 to 2020, Origins winter guard in 2022, and Mirage Performance Ensembles from 2023 to 2024.

Alex had the opportunity to teach the Colts during the 2021 DCI celebration year and served as a choreographer for The Cadets during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Currently, he serves on staff at FIU winter guards and is the director of Royse City High School in Royse City, TX.

Alex is excited to work with the Blue Stars this summer and thankful for the opportunity!