Submitted 
First-Year Band Director Discusses Rebel Regiment Season
The Edgefield County School District (ECSD) is continuing its new regular feature, “Three Questions With …” in which our community is introduced to interesting voices within our school district.
Now in her third school year as director of bands at Strom Thurmond High School, Stacy Coker has watched as her students in the STHS Rebel Regiment Marching Band, a number of whom are still in middle school, have displayed tremendous leadership and shown exponential growth in both their musicality and their performance acumen.
The band has had a phenomenal competitive season, with “The Temptress of Salt and Shadow” having impressed the judges at each stop with divisional first place wins at every competition they’ve entered. The band has received additional accolades for Best Overall Visual, Best Overall Effect, Best Music, and Best Color Guard.
The Rebel Regiment traveled to T.L. Hanna High School last Saturday for the 2025 S.C. Band Directors Association (SCBDA) Class AA State Preliminaries and Finals. Here are our “Three Questions With …” Strom Thurmond High School Director of Bands, Stacy Coker:
ECSD: Looking back at your first year at STHS and the progress of the Rebel Regiment, what are you most proud of at this moment?
STACY COKER: I think I am most proud of the culture we have worked so hard to build. Our students know we are only as strong as our weakest link and so they’ve bought into helping one other be as successful as they can be. We’ve had older students give up the very little bit of time they have to teach the rookies fifteen minute lessons here and there to make sure they’re musically and visually sound. This is not something that happens everywhere and it’s a culture that has to be built. It just does my heart good to see the juniors, who were freshmen stumbling around the field my first year, taking their roles as upperclassmen to heart.
ECSD: There are some really young Rebel Regiment members on the field, including some seventh graders. Musically, I can only imagine they’ve had to grow and mature rather quickly. How have the growth and development of our middle school band programs contributed to the success of the Rebel Regiment?
STACY COKER: YES! Almost half of our ensemble this year are rookies, with a total of eight middle school students. Not to mention, over half of our guard members are rookies to our program. Ms. Baird (Band Director at J-E-T Middle) and Ms. Hodge (Band Director at MMS) are in 110% and it shows with the buy-in we’re getting at the middle school level. They’re always going above and beyond what is asked of them, and I really don’t think of them at all as assistants, but as an equal. Building a culture at any level is extremely difficult, but our middle school directors are on board with creating competitive programs that teach students not only to be great musicians, but to be amazing individuals who will go out into the world and be productive citizens. With the two of them at the helm, our middle and high school programs will continue to soar in the future.
ECSD: Considering what you first envisioned “The Temptress of Salt and Shadow” could look possibly like and become, has the reality of the show on the competition field approached your vision?
STACY COKER: Every show I’ve put on the field during my career has morphed and changed in ways I didn’t expect. Some have been good and some really bad (ha, ha). I can always look at a show at the end of the process and say, ‘Oh, I wish we would have done this’ or ‘Oh man, that turned out cooler than I expected.’ With this show I feel very happy with what we have done so far. I feel like the show is easy to follow for all audience members, the visual landscape and color palette on the field flows very well, and the story we’re telling pulls you into our own little fantasy land. That is always what I aim for when creating a show. I always ask myself, ‘Is this show going to captivate our audience and make us unforgettable in the nine minutes we are on the field?’ I definitely feel like we’ve created that this year. I’m really excited to see how we do now at the end of the marching season with these amazing students.
BONUS QUESTION: Are there any surprises remaining for “Temptress” this season?
STACY COKER: Well, there are always little surprises, but there is definitely a surprise at the end of the show. We’re actually saving that surprise for finals and senior night.
Story and photo submitted by Mike Rosier, ECSD Public Information
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