July 2001

Some people volunteer their time and some people donate their resources.  However, few people give both...and fewer still share both abundantly.  Perhaps this is what defines a great volunteer--the willingness to share  everything they possess for a cause they believe in.  This surely defines  Luanne Bialecki, who is a cornerstone of volunteerism at Carolina Crown.

Luanne is the Supervisor of the Ultrasound Dept at Union Memorial Hospital in Monroe,NC.  She is originally from Massachusetts, where she marched in a Fife & Drum Corps (alongside George Washington, so the rumors go!), worked in Vermont, moved to Florida, then Greenwood, SC, before making the final move to Charlotte - which, she says is as far north as she will ever live again. She's crazy for cats (has three or four now, depending on which day of the week it is). She attended that very first organizational meeting at the Holiday Inn in 1988 and has been one of the most active members of our organization ever since!

It is hard to discuss all the things that Luanne has done and continues to do for Carolina Crown, because she literally does it all. From board member to seamstress and everything in between, Luanne has provided over a decade of selfless giving to Carolina Crown.

But did you know that Luanne is a savvy investor?  You see, in the early days when the money was tight (yes, it has always been tight) no bank or loan shark would even consider bailing us out.  However, Luanne was there with checkbook in hand providing the working capital needed to see us through the tough times... in fact, as Executive Director Kevin Smith has told many people over the years, "there would be no Carolina Crown today had it not been for Luanne, as the very first NightBEAT never would have occurred to begin the seed money used to start the drum corps had it not been for her writing a (one of many personal) check(s) for the show's downpayment."  Past-president Bill Loelius says, "I guess she knew a good investment when she saw one; a real visionary!"

But that's not the only financial-related item on her Crown resume'.  Let's not forget the financial staple of our early existence...the garage sale.  We raised a lot of money in the early days (i.e. the first 10 years!) from garage sales, and guess where most of them were held?  That's right, in Luanne's front yard!  In fact, we held so many sales there that her neighborhood risked being re-zoned as a commercial area!  And, as the NightBEAT money lady over the years, Luanne (and the police) were responsible for bringing money from the ticket booths to the Grady Cole Center, to be counted and accounted for. And then when taking night deposits to the bank in the middle of the night couldn't get done for some reason, (Groan), having thousands of dollars hidden in her freezer until we could safely take it to the bank.  (the latter is no longer done by the way, in case anybody is thinking of knocking her off this coming August 2nd!)  And of course, almost legendary is Luanne's persistence in going through Crown and NightBEAT budgets, line by line, questioning those items that didn't make sense. "It took a real champion for the cause to go through budgets, line by line, for the good of the order. I personally did not delve as deeply as I should have, knowing that 'Miss Eagle Eye' was doing it for me," says board member Doug Madar.

Also, where do you think the corps' delicious meals came from in the early 90's?  Why from the "queen of the auction house", of course.  Luanne spent many of her nights at a food auction house in Monroe, NC wheelin' and dealin' for budget busting bargains on everything from bread to dessert, all to keep the "troops" well fed.  "I can't tell you how many  auctions Luanne dragged me to for my supposed expertise, only to find out what she really wanted was to have me help her load all the stuff she purchased into the van," says Doug Madar.  And speaking of cooking for the corps?  Who can forget those cobblers? Peach, cherry and whatever else was around! You don't want to know!  Just add a little chemical whip and it turned into a smash hit!

These are just a few of the talents Luanne has brought to the organization over the years.  How about early on when she went to a Parks and Recreation event, representing Carolina Crown, making little drum Christmas ornaments for the kids out of toilet paper card board spools.  And, speaking of Parks and Recreation events, those Halloween bashes in where we ran four or five booths dispensing Halloween "trinkets" as prizes. We had enough to run a hundred booths, which Luanne bought and paid for out of her own pocket. Quite naturally, this Halloween stuff ended up in our notorious yard sales at the Bialecki domain.  And pictures. Do we have pictures?  Without Luanne, we would have no early documentation of some of these early projects and corps' performances.  (You can check out her "scrap books" at most of the corps' get-togethers.)

"If I'm not mistaken Lu actually came up with the name 'CAROLINA CROWN'," says board member Lisa Camann.  "She cooks, sews, attended food auctions for years, washed uniforms in the off season, ran miscellaneous fund-raisers, poured beer at CityFest, came up with carnival games, catered corporate parties, hosted the yard sales, recruited at band and color guard shows, came up with the ribbon wands souvenir item after a trip to Disney, and has been a great Board Member, Exec Committee member, Crown Friend and Fan," continues Lisa.

The extraordinary amount of time, talent and possessions Luanne has given, and continues to give, is immeasurable.  One thing is for sure, volunteers like Luanne are the very foundation of Carolina Crown, and if there is a cornerstone in that foundation, it is Luanne Bialecki.

But who could forget, Luanne, the "Program Coordinator Extraordinaire".  With her volumes of suggestions for future Carolina Crown show concepts.  Imagine "Rocky and Bullwinkle" instead of "Stormworks"! Incredible!!!  We'd probably have a lot more drum corps right now if Luanne would have shared her potentially award-winning ideas with them!  Hey, maybe VK will make a come-back some day!

We are all very proud to have worked with this wonderful volunteer. 

Thanks, Luanne!

(Compiled from the fond memories of fellow board members and friends Lisa Camann, Bill Loelius, Doug Madar and Kevin Smith.)

Carolina Summer Clinic 2001 a Success!

Carolina Crown hosted the third annual Carolina Summer Clinic on Friday, June 22 as part of the Carolina Crown Preview festivities.   Over thirty band directors from the area attended the afternoon of informative sessions and discussions. 

Clinicians included Sandi Sheuerman (Front Ensemble Instructor), Michael Shapiro (Guard Caption Head and Designer), Larry Markiewicz (Brass Caption Head), and Marty McCartt (Brass Arragner).  Clinic participants were also treated to dinner and the Preview Show. 

Clinic participants included:  Joe Gullegde (Rock Hill HS), David Whitesides (Shelby HS), Shane Dixon (Blacksburg), Vern Weygandt (Jonesville), James Turner (Lincolnton HS), Luke Norris, Glen Funderburn (Blythewood MS), Vince Clayton (Ridge View HS), Barry Hearn (West Davidson HS), Kevin Byrd (South Granville HS), Jody Lukac (Piedmont HS), Jeff Reynolds (Sun Valley HS), Richard Holmes (James Martin MS), Jason Firth (Ridge View), Brian McMath (Southwestern Randolph HS), Melissa Sparling (Ft. Mill HS), Brian Richardson (Ridge View HS), Geneva Barrett (Piedmont HS), JB Holland (S.W. Randolph HS), Keil McMurray (S.W. Randolph HS), Robin Gorham (Triton HS), Matt Edwards (Triton HS), Clayton Parker (Orangeburg-Wilkinson), Christopher Gladman (Orangeburg-Wilkinson), Steve Rummage (Marion HS), Jerry Liles (Surry Central).

Carolina Crown Food Truck Receives Finishing Touches

 Carolina Crown’s Food Truck has received a new paint job.  Thanks to Chip Smith and Pep Filters, Crown’s food truck has a new look . . .thank’s Chip and Pep Filters- it looks like new!

1st Annual Student Leadership Camp a Great Success

Carolina Crown's summer season began Friday, June 1st with the start of the corps' Student Leadership Camp.  Nineteen of Crown's student leaders attended the 3-day event, the first-ever of its kind for Carolina Crown.

The camp contained a mixture of lectures, exercises, panel discussions and FUN into what it appeared everyone felt was a very worthwhile program.

The roots of this initiative came out of our year-end member survey
project.  The student leadership theme came up in several people's comments on the survey, but David Roth did the best at identifying the challenges involved and making some recommendations to enhance what we already had in place.  For that reason, David was asked to chair a member task force on a complete Student Leadership Training Program to be implemented at Crown in 2001.  In agreeing to chair the task force, David was also asked to select six other members for the committee whom he felt had genuine feelings about enhancing the student leadership aspects of Carolina Crown.

The objectives of the task force were to:

- Identify the student leadership positions needed and appropriate to maximize each members' Crown experience

- Develop recommended position descriptions for each of the above that could be used as guidelines for both the members chosen to hold these positions, and also for those with visions of holding a position in the future

- Develop a recommended core curriculum for the Student Leadership Camp

- Identify and develop recommendations and/or curriculums for other programs/activities to benefit all Crown student leaders, future leaders and members as a whole

The task force did a tremendous job and the agenda for the camp was laregly based on their recommendations.  Participating as clinicians for the camp were Operations Assistant Paco Taylor, Board Member Chris Buck, Associate Director of Bands at the University of South Carolina David O'Shields, brass co-caption head Larry Markiewicz, percussion caption head Paul Rennick, and guard caption head Michael Shapiro.  One of the more popular sessions of the weekend was a panel discussion by four previous drum majors (Brian Bambauer - Bluecoats '89-90; Jake Wade - Crown '99; Paco Taylor - Crown '00; and Chris Buck - Cadets '89-90), an idea that came directly from the task force's recommendations.

The attendees of this year's camp were (* denotes Student Leadership Task Force Member):

Front Ensemble:  Michael Ptacin, Rob Cooney, Steven Musumeche*
Battery: Dave Stedronsky*, Butch Smith
Guard: Amanda Kachurak*, Adele Williamson, Peter Eichler*
Brass: Andy Cartwright, John Behizadeh, Ashley Davis, Scott Maxie, John Alexander, Glenn McIntyre, Trevor Cox*, Kelvin Figueroa, Stan Phillips
Drum Majors: David Roth*, Loraine Womble*

After ten years of white uniform pants, Carolina Crown premiered their new uniform pants at the Carolina Crown Preview on June 22, 2001. 

Due to rain, the event was held indoors at the Ft. Mill High School Auditorium.  All five and ten year volunteers were recognized, all alumni were recognized by year of participation, and a few special friends of Carolina Crown were presented with thank-you gifts.

 With nearly two-hundred fifty family, friends, and supporters present, Carolina Crown presented their 2001 production “Industry” with precision and excitement.  Other groups sharing the stage included Carolina Gold Senior Corps from Raleigh, NC and the Madison Concert Band from Charlotte, NC.  

Thanks to all performing groups and congratulations on a great show!

Meet Carolina Crown's Visual Faculty

Chris Jankus graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1991 with his Bachelors of Music Education.  He has been the Irmo High School assistant director, Irmo Middle School assistant director and Crossroads Middle School director for the past four years.  Chris marched with the Cadets in 1993 and participated in the Atlanta Olympic Band in 1996 serving as Drum Major.  Chris was also the principal trumpet with the 1996 Olympic Symphonic Wind Ensemble and served as drum major of the University of South Carolina Marching Band. Chris joins the Crown faculty in 2001 as visual caption head.

Brent Bernier earned a Bachelor's in secondary education from Clemson and is currently working on a Master's in secondary education from Converse.  He is currently a middle school teacher at DR Hill Middle School in Spartanburg, SC and serves on the character education committee and the fine arts support committee.  Brent marched with Carolina Crown in 1996 and is an instructor and drill designer for Traveler's Rest High School Band.  Brent received the Aerospace Education Excellence Award in 2001 for promoting aerospace education in the classroom.  Brent joins the Carolina Crown faculty as a visual technician.

Paul Jackson earned a BM in Music Education from the University of South Carolina in 1994, graduating cum laude.  He has worked as the band director at Blenheim Elementary and Middle Schools as well as assistant band director at Scotland High School.  Currently, he is the band director at Forest Hills High School and East Union Middle School in Marshville, NC.  Paul marched with the Cadets of Bergen County in 1989, 1990 and 1992.  He was on the visual and brass staff at Carolina Crown in 1996 and joins Carolina Crown in 2001 as a member of the visual faculty.

Terrace Ellis will earn his BM in Music Education from Georgia Southern University in 2001.  He is currently a graduate student at Georgia Southern and has served as a drum major instructor at Spirit Camps of America for the past four years.  Terrace marched with Carolina Crown in 1997 and was Georgia Southern's head drum major for the past five years.  Terrace also joins the Carolina Crown faculty as a visual technician.

Matt Liner received his Bachelors in music education from Appalachian State University and is currently the band director at East Davidson High School and E.L. Brown Middle School in Davidson County.  Matt marched with Carolina Crown in 1996 and 1997 and is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Phi Kappa Lambda national music honor society.  Matt joins the Carolina Crown faculty as a member of the visual faculty.

Rhonda Sweatt earned an associates degree in science and is currently a respiratory therapist and night supervisor at Richland Memorial Hospital.  She marched with the Cadets of Bergen County in 1994 and has taught with the Cadets in 1998 as well as Marion Catholic HS in 1998 and Irmo HS in 2001.  Rhonda also joins Carolina Crown as a member of the visual faculty.