Kaitlyn Lopez
Color Guard Instructor
Kaitlyn Lopez grew up in Buford and graduated from Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Georgia in 2014. She attended Georgia State University where she was a member of the Panther Band in 2014 and 2015 and the Georgia State University Winterguard in 2015. She also performed with the Paramount Open Winterguard in 2016 and 2017, where she was named “Most Outstanding Flag Line Member” both years, before retiring from performance to finish school and continue teaching. Since joining the activity, Kaitlyn has been taught by renowned educators such as Megan Phillips, Billy and Katie Pacifico, Erin England, Andria Foerch, and Rick Subel. Kaitlyn began teaching at Collins Hill in 2016 as a flag technician and has since held the position of Assistant Director and is now the Director of Color Guards. She currently lives in Buford where she runs a small business while teaching color guard at Collins Hill High School.
Jami Fennel
Director of Percussion Studies
Jami Fennell is originally from Walterboro, South Carolina. He attended Western Carolina University where he studied percussion with Dr. Mario Gaetano. While attending WCU he performed in the percussion, jazz, wind and gamelan ensembles. He was also a member of the Pride of the Mountains Marching band where he served as the section leader and was Most Outstanding Performer for the 2001 season. Jami was also a member of the Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle Corps from 1999-2001, and in 2001 he was named Most Outstanding Performer. Jami also attended Jacksonville State University where he studied with Clint Gillespie and Tracy Tyler. While attending JSU he was a member of the Marching Southerners and the JSU PASIC line, and was the 2003 Most Outstanding Performer. Jami holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from JSU. He has also taught several highly respected drum lines throughout the South including: Spirit of JSU, Jacksonville State University, Kennesaw Mountain High School and Lassiter High School. From 2008-2010 he worked in Birmingham, Alabama as a member of the DoubleStop Percussion team. Currently Jami lives in Atlanta where he is the Percussion Coordinator for the Georgia State Marching Band and of course the Collins Hill Bands.
Emily Weaver
Front Ensemble Instructor
Emily spent two seasons with STRYKE Percussion based out of Hollywood, Florida, performing as the visual soloist in their 2017 production “King”, and aged out in the front ensemble in 2018 performing “Nightmare at 30,000 feet”. Immediately after aging out, she moved to the metro-Atlanta area to teach full time and further pursue her career as a freelance artist and visual designer.
