Since its inception in 1972, the Rocky Mountain Color Guard Association has continued to grow and engage more and more in the sport of color guard. In conjunction with WGI, DCI, Colorado Bandmasters Association, and Ascend Performing Arts, RMCGA has sought to foster creativity and a level of excellence in all performers, coaches, parents, and staff.
Board of Directors
President/Circuit Director:
Katie Cox
Katie got her start in the activity marching with Legacy High School. She continued to perform after high school with Opus X, Blue Knights, and Oracle Performance ensemble. Katie graduated from CU Denver with a BS in Chemistry but decided the arts were her passion. Katie has been teaching color guard and dance to various groups in Colorado for the past 17 years. She is excited to help grow the circuit!
Vice President/Director of Training:
Kayla Kenyon
Kayla has been involved in the pageantry arts as a performer, educator, and enthusiast for her entire life. With her parents having met in the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps, she was raised in the world of the marching arts. Kayla spent 12 years as a DCI performer and performed in the RMCGA circuit for 17 years. Kayla has worked with a variety of independent groups and has taught at many clinics across the country. She is now an educator of various scholastic groups in RMCGA as well as a chemist for the EPA. Her passion lies with community outreach; giving back to the activity and the circuit that gave her so much.
Treasurer/Director of Finance:
Danniell Isaac
Danniell entered the marching band/winter guard community in 2001 as a freshman at Arvada High School in Arvada, CO. After high school; he marched one season of The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle corps in 2004. In 2008 he re-entered the community as a teacher of several scholastic programs and an independent winter guard while performing with the Independent Open/World winter guard, Opus X(2009-10, & 2013). Danniell has been a member of the RMCGA board for several years and is currently training to become a new judge in the RMCGA winter guard circuit. 2022 marks Danniell’s twenty-first year since he joined this fantastic community, and he can’t wait to see every group back out on the floor after the craziness of the COVID pandemic.
Secretary/Director of Public Relations:
Jeff Hargis
Jeff has been involved with the marching band and color guard activities since 2006 as a performer, technician, choreographer, designer, director, clinician, and adjudicator. He began judging Colorado winter guards in 2015 and has since expanded to other activities and states. Jeff is passionate about teaching and mentoring young students and instructors; especially helping students continue their involvement in the marching arts after high school through opportunities such as drum corps, instruction, and independent winter guard. Jeff recently completed his Master’s in School Counseling and works as a high school counselor in Colorado.
Contest Director
Kendra Whelchel
Kendra has been involved with RMCGA since she was 14 years old as a performer for 7 years and on the contest staff for the rest of the time. She took a few years off in the middle of this time and didn’t know what to do with herself, so she came back! She is also a Contest Administrator for WGI so if you don’t see her at a contest, she is probably traveling to some exciting place (like Kansas City).
Chief Judge
William Chumley
As a marching member, instructor, consultant, judge, and color guard director, William Chumley has committed over 42 years to the pageantry arts, where his various roles have included: serving on the Board of Directors for the Rocky Mountain Color Guard Association for 30 years; judging worldwide for Drum Corps United Kingdom, Drum Corps Japan, Color Guard Netherlands, Winter Guard International, Bands of America, and Drum Corps International for over 29 years; and training, mentoring, and scheduling judges as president of the Rocky Mountain Judges’ Association. William trains judges and instructors around the world. As a color guard director and instructor, William has created World Championship teams, established fully functioning non-profit arts organizations, and has consulted and taught in both high school and independent settings. His passion for success along with creating a collaborative environment are trademarks. William is the caption manager for Design Analysis and General Effect with WGI.
Members at Large
Metro / Northern Region
Xander Caven
Xander has been involved in the marching arts since 2009. Xander marched with his high school and shortly after decided to spin Independently with the following groups; Mysterium, Solstice Winterguard, Rise Winterguard, Opus X, Malachi Independent, and Invictus. Xander has also been teaching in the RMCGA circuit for over 10 years with various groups. He is very excited to continue to help grow the RMCGA circuit and grow the Colorado color guard community.
Southern Region
Shelby McNeill
Shelby has been involved in the marching arts both as a performer and a director for 11 years. Over her performing career, she has competed at the Scholastic/Independent Regional A, Independent A/Open and Independent World levels, most recently with Malachi World in Denver CO. Shelby has been assistant director within a variety of performance levels in the RMCGA circuit and is currently the Visual/Body Technician for The Pride of Mesa Ridge Marching Band and Executive Director of Color Guard at Mesa Ridge High School. Shelby’s overall goal is to not only teach color guard but to use her program to prepare and create better humans. She is excited to use her platform as an RMCGA board member to increase resources for Southern Colorado directors and their performers.
Western Region
Molly Bethe
Marketing Team
Liz Haan
Liz has been involved in the marching arts since 1994 and has worked with several organizations around the state. She is looking forward to sharing her passion for this activity and her graphic design background with RMCGA as the marketing and social media coordinator.
DJ Stevens
DJ began his color guard career in middle school at the age of 13 in 2003. He started with Pomona High School and continued performing in independent groups and drum corps such as Alchemy, Opus X, Signature, Colts, Cypress, and Malachi Independent. DJ began teaching color guard in 2009 and has had the privilege of spreading his love for this activity to Colorado, Texas, and California. Currently, he is the director at Douglas County High School, Horizon High School, Legend High School, and is on staff with Anesidora Winter Guard. DJ believes wholeheartedly that this activity is based around personal growth and should be a positive learning environment that is both challenging and supportive.
Circuit History
In the fall of 1972, the Continental Divide Color Guard Circuit (CDCGC) was formed to promote color guard contests in the Rocky Mountain area. Spearheaded by Lee Carlson, the first contests were held in the winter of 1973. Lee went on to become a Winter Guard International adjudicator and a member of the board for the Winter Guard Association of Southern California.
That first year, CDCGC had three contests – all in one weekend! There were no local judges; so five judges from the Midwest were brought in. That meant airfare plus judging fees, so the cost was split between all three shows. CDCGC was off and running.
In 1974 there were 11 guards and more contests. The growing began.
In 1978 Earl and Cindy Carlheim moved to Colorado and new guards were formed with new instructors. CDCGC had 9 guards in the 1979 season. The Carlheims inspired everyone with their energy and optimism and spurred everyone into a renewed effort. Earl’s unit, “Nova,” was a force to be reckoned with for many years!
At the end of the 10th year, there were 16 competitive units including some from Kansas, Wyoming, and Pueblo.
In the late 80s, new instructors and units continued to propel the association. Shows like “Silver Boots” from Aurora Central High School and “A Touch of Class” from Smoky Hill High School led the way for the new high schools. “Nova” and “Speakeasy” challenged the independents to improve and to achieve.
Each year, members of the circuit have improved both locally and nationally. In 1990 Jinx made Winter Guard International Championship Finals, marking the first year a Colorado guard made finals. Since then, many more groups have made finals including 1994 Pomona High School, winning the gold medal in Scholastic Open. Pomona repeated that honor in 1999 with a record-setting score for Scholastic Open and followed that feat with many appearances in Scholastic World Class finals.
Oracle Winter Guard brought a new sense of musicality and visual interpretation to the Colorado scene in 1998. They consistently made WGI Championship Finals, winning the gold medal for Independent Open Class in 2002. Oracle solidly moved into the Independent World competition in 2003, finishing in 9th place. The organization became Opus X in 2007 and continued to make several appearances in World Class finals.
1997 was the 25th Anniversary of the circuit. In honor of this, the name was changed to the Rocky Mountain Color Guard Association. Select contests were combined with the Rocky Mountain Percussion Association including the Championship at the CU Event Center in Boulder.
Each year, Colorado sends several units to the WGI World Championship competitions. In 2001, 11 units made semifinals and 7 units were finalists! The quality continued to excel on the national stage with groups like Signature Color Guard, Arvada High School, Legacy High School, Bear Creek High School, Loveland High School, Anesidora Winter Guard, and Malachi Independent.
RMCGA continues to grow both in numbers and talent. As people graduate or age out, they are becoming instructors or creating new color guards. RMCGA members have become consistent finalists at WGI Championships, as both performers and educators, and continue to set new standards locally and nationally.
The number of Units at selected Championship contests:
1978 – 9
1983 – 13
1999 – 29
2002 – 36 (30th Anniversary season)
2022 – 50 (50th Anniversary season)