Katie Starnes

Katie Starnes is currently the Instrumental Music Teacher at Peterson Middle School in the Santa Clara Unified School District where she teaches three orchestras and two bands. Before this current position, Katie taught elementary school music and high school band in the greater San Jose area. Katie has a degree in Music Education from San Jose State University where she studied saxophone with Dr. Michael Hernandez. Katie is currently on marching band staff at Homestead HS in Cupertino, CA. Katie is professionally involved with the California Music Educators Association and California Band Directors Association. She also serves on the board for CMEA Bay Section as one of the Solo and Ensemble Festival Coordinators.

Katie marched Vanguard Cadets from 2014, 2015, before aging out with the corps in 2017. She played both baritone and mellophone and served as the mellophone section leader and soloist. In 2015, Katie was a part of SCV International, where she performed in Taiwan. Katie joined the SCVC visual staff in 2019, and currently serves as a visual tech with the corps. Katie is very excited to be a part of the VEL group and give back to the Vanguard organization which has given so much to her.