Faculty & Staff

Percussion Instructor

Mike has been involved with Sacred Heart University since 2012 when he came to SHU as a student. As a student studying Psychology, he was a member of the marching band, jazz band, pep band, concert band and percussion ensemble. He has taught the percussion ensemble at Westhill High School in Stamford, CT, and has been a percussion instructor at Sacred Heart since 2017, having taught the drumline and bucket drumming ensemble, Heartbeat Percussion. Mike also performs with choirs, theatre productions, metal bands, singer/songwriters and is a member of the Norwalk Gamer Symphony Orchestra.

Percussion Instructor

Charlie has been involved with the Sacred Heart University Band Program since 2012, when he joined the percussion section while pursuing a degree in Computer Science. After graduating in 2014, Charlie returned to the Sacred Heart Marching Band where he has continually been a contributor to the design and execution of the Fall marching band show. He primarily teaches the drumline, but works with the entire percussion section. Charlie also helped lay the foundation for the spirited percussion ensemble Heartbeat Percussion, which he directed from 2014-2017.

Color Guard Instructor

Color Guard Instructor

Twirling Coach

Originally from Maryland, Victoria is a graduate of the University of Maryland (UMD) where she majored in Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics and minored in Linguistics. While at UMD, she twirled for the UMD's "Mighty Sound of Maryland" for four years, serving as the Captain of the Twirling Line for her Senior year.

Additionally, Victoria twirled for the Wheaton Dance/Twirl Teams (based in Maryland) coached by Ann Marie Kennedy for 18 years during her younger years, earning numerous state, regional, and national titles. Moreover, she earned a spot on Team USA for three consecutive international World Championship competitions, bringing home the gold medal for the USA each time. Since retiring from competitive twirling, Victoria has earned her judge's license for twirling and has been serving as a competition judge and coach since 2008.

Professionally, after graduating from UMD, Victoria went on to earn a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and then completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. She has since shifted careers and now serves as the Director of Science Research at King School in Stamford, CT, a private preK-12 school for gifted and talented students. She now revels in her students' accomplishments, many of whom have won local, state, regional, national and international acclaim as young budding scientific researchers.

Victoria currently lives with her husband and two children in New Canaan, CT, and is excited to return to her roots and her childhood passion of twirling by serving as the Head Twirling Coach at Sacred Heart University.

Pep Band Director

Keith Smith is the Band Director and Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for The Country School in Madison, CT. Prior to moving to Connecticut, Mr Smith spent nine years as the Director of Bands for Waynesboro High School in Waynesboro, VA. During his time in Waynesboro the band program had record growth and established their first competitive marching band. An avid performer, Mr. Smith has performed with ensembles across the states of Virginia and Connecticut on horn and tenor horn. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Old Dominion University and a Masters of Music from James Madison University.

Mr. Smith is currently a doctoral student at Southern Connecticut State University studying Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.