Jim Dunlop - Band Director
Mr. Jim Dunlop graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from University of Portland in Music Education, and a Master’s Degree in Music Conducting from Portland State University. He has been teaching for 35 years. He started in the Portland Public Schools at Jefferson High School, Ockley Green Middle School, and Astor Elementary School. His last year in Portland, he was the Director of Music and Arts Supervisor for the Jefferson Arts Magnet.
This is his 27th year at Century High School. The band program at Century has grown from 22 students when the school opened to over 200 students. Mr. Dunlop has put together 32 summer programs, including all 15 years of H.A.S. and Camp Amp. He is also the founder and director of C.H.O.M.P. (Century High’s Outreach Music Program), which is now in its 25th year. C.H.O.M.P. has helped thousands of Hillsboro students play music, become teachers, musicians, and performers all over the world.
Brisco Liddell - Assistant Band Director, Sound Design/Audio Engineer, & Battery Technician
Brisco is a graduate of Liberty High School and a long-time resident of the Pacific Northwest. He marched Quads and Snare from 2011-2015 at LHS. After high school he served a volunteer 2 year mission in North Carolina providing religious instruction and humanitarian aid. Upon completion of his missionary service he attended Brigham Young University Idaho majoring in Percussion Performance and minoring in Business Economics. During his time in the intermountain west, he was the marching percussion director at BYU-I and was a percussion instructor at BYU.
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Brisco has a long time history with Century, having started as a Battery Technician for the fall 2017 show, "Big City Swing" (prior to his undergrad) and instructing both in person and remotely in 2017 - 2018, 2022 - 2023, and returning in his current roles.
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This upcoming school year, Brisco is excited to be working with Jim Dunlop to help instruct both the Percussion Course and AP Music Theory. Having worked and recorded in some of the top recording studios in the country, he hopes to bring that perspective to the AP Music Theory/Audio Engineering course.
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Outside of Century, Brisco is a Father of two very energetic children, a drummer in a progressive metal band (Man May Be), and a night time caregiver. He regularly offers services as a Private Music Instructor, Studio Musician (specializing in drum set and percussion), and Composer - writing primarily in an orchestral setting.
Michael Leone - Design Consultant
Michael has been part of the marching arts arena since 1993 where he started as a Baritone Player for the Seattle Cascades from 1993-1999 and then joined them as a Visual and Brass Instructor from 2000-2002. Michael then joined the Oregon Crusaders in 2003 as Visual Caption head becoming the Corps Director in 2004 through 2006. In 2007 Michael went back to the Cascades as Corps Director where he then took a step back to become Program Coordinator from 2010 - 2011.
He graduated from the University of Washington in 2003 while performing with the Husky Marching Band where he earned degrees in music, a Bachelors of Music and a Bachelors of Music Education. He then went on to Hockinson High School where he taught Band and Choir from 2004-2008. Michael has worked for several top marching bands in the Northwest which includes Skyview, Columbia River, Snohomish, Hockinson and Beaverton High Schools.
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Currently Michael Leone is a Vice President at Reliance Network, a Contest Coordinator for Drum Corps International, and Logistics Director for the Northwest Youth Music Group.
Cooper Ottum - Music Design
Cooper is a music educator, arranger, and composer who helps music program directors better engage with their students and their community by providing consulting for marching arts programs with a focus on creative yet practical solutions.
Cooper’s marching band clients include Century High School, Liberty High School, Roseburg High School, and O’Fallon Township High School. Cooper enjoys long term creative partnerships with clients, acting as a guest clinician and on-site advisor in addition to program coordination and planning. In addition to collaborating with marching band programs, he has worked with Hillsboro Parks and Recreation and Beaverton School District on music education initiatives for K-12 students. In Kansas City Cooper created and coordinated the Music for Use Project, which established commissioning relationships between collegiate composers and local youth music programs.
Cooper studied composition at the University of Southern California and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and has been commissioned to write works for short film, band, and a variety of chamber ensembles. He studied conducting and music education at Central Washington University where he was also a graduate assistant for the CWU Bands.
Cooper is currently the director of bands at Summit High School in Bend, OR. He lives in the woods with his wife, Cara, and two birds, Hugo and Kiwi.
Andrew Reid - Front Ensemble Design & Sound Design
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Conner Arndt - Visual Design
Conner graduated from Tigard High School in 2014. He then went on to play cymbals in DCI for the Oregon Crusaders Drum Corps in 2012(Open class world champions), 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and aged out with the Madison Scouts Drum Corps in 2018. Conner also marched cymbals in WGI for the Oregon Crusaders Indoor in 2013, 2014, 2015 and then with Music City Mystique in 2016, 2017(World class world champions), 2018, 2019.
Following his marching career, Conner began to teach numerous high schools then the Colts Drum Corps and has been teaching since 2021. This season Conner is writing all of the drill for Century High School as well as helping the visual caption with marching and writing choreography.
Derek Beuffel - Percussion Caption Head & Design
Derek is a percussion educator and arranger in the Portland area. Growing up in Oregon, he marched with Oregon Crusaders Indoor before attending the University of Oregon to pursue a degree in psychology. Derek was an active member of the Oregon Marching Band and Oregon Basketball Band during his time at UO. He additionally played drum set in the UO Green and Yellow Garter Bands, taking on the role of music director in the Yellow Garter Band and logistic director in the Green Garter Band.
Derek served as the percussion director at Willamette High School from 2017-2020 and has worked as a battery technician across multiple schools in the Portland area, as well as the Cascades Drum & Bugle Corps. He has additionally served as battery arranger for a number of schools in the PNW, including Willamette HS, Beaverton HS, Kelso HS, McKay HS, and Century HS.
Ben Grimshaw - Visual Caption Head
As a career, Ben serves the Portland area as a Firefighter/EMT. This will be his third year as Visual Caption Head at Century High School, he also has worked with the Century Winter Drumline for their last three seasons.
Growing up in Oregon, Ben marched three years with the Oregon Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps and two years with Oregon Crusaders Indoor, a world class WGI percussion ensemble. Ben then went on to march at the Madison Scouts for his last year of Drum Corps in 2018, and he marched at Music City Mystique from 2016-2020 placing top 5 at WGI World Chamipships all five years earning one bronze and one gold medal.
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Ben has taught schools in both Oregon and Tennessee, most recently working as a visual tech for Colts Drum and Bugle Corps for their 2021, 2022, and 2023 seasons.
Zachary Dye - Guard Caption Head & Design
Former performer with Carolina Crown and Zydeco Winter Guard.
Zachary has also instructed at top performing groups such as: Phantom Regiment, Seattle Cascades, Center Grove High School, Juxtaposition Winter Guard, Legacy Winter Guard, Interplay Winter Guard, Purdue University and Cascadia Winter Guard.
Former Music For All Summer Symposium clinician.
Zachary currently holds a gold medal in DCI, a silver medal in DCI, and a gold medal in WGI Independent Open Class.
Tim Ray - Music Caption Head
Tim Ray is an active music educator in the Portland area, and an alumni of Century High School. After graduating from Century, Tim stayed involved with the band program for about a decade, teaching multiple ensembles including the marching band, jazz band, CHOMP, and summer camps, as well as spearheading the launch of Century’s Winter Brass Ensemble in the the inaugural years of the NWAPA Winter Winds Division.
Tim’s marching experience includes a summer with the Troopers (‘10 Tuba), as well as several years at Carolina Crown (‘11-13 Tuba), where the group won three Jim Ott brass titles, two John Brazale visual titles, one GE title, and the 2013 World Championship. After aging out of DCI, Tim spent a few summers at Busch Gardens Williamsburg as a performer in a drum corps-style theme park show, and was later on brass staff with Legends Drum and Bugle Corps (‘18).
After graduating from George Fox University with a degree in music, Tim worked as a band director in Southwest Portland for several years before moving to Jakarta, Indonesia to be a band director there. Since moving back to the states, Tim enjoys work as a substitute teacher/band director for over 20 school districts in the Portland Metro region. Outside of school, Tim enjoys performing as a bass trombonist in multiple ensembles as well as lifting weights and most importantly, spending time with his beautiful family.
Tim is extremely excited to be back home at Century this year, working alongside such a fantastic group of educators and people
Sam Henderson - Brass Technician & Visual Technician
Sam marched at century from 2016-2020, between the 4 shows his favorite was 2017's show: "Big City Swing". Additionally, Sam marched a year of drum corps in 2019 with the Seattle Cascades Drum and Bugle Corps. While there, he switched from trumpet to tuba.
After high school he began working at Dutch bros, where he continues to work as an assistant manager. Sam is one of 10 kids in his family(and the second youngest) and his hobbies include dog training, cooking, and reading.
Jennifer Martinez Gudiel - Woodwind Technician & Battery Technician
Jennifer has been teaching in the Century High School Marching Band for 7 years. During her time as a Century student, she participated in the fall marching band, wind ensemble, the One O'clock Jazz Band, and Century's Indoor Percussion Group. Upon graduation, Jennifer marched bass drum with the Seattle Cascades Drum and Bugle Corps in 2016, and afterwards she obtained her BM in flute performance from the University of Oregon in 2021.
During her time at UO Jennifer played with the UO Wind Ensemble and UO Orchestra, and she was invited to play in extracurricular performances such as recitals, and original opera compositions. During her time as a UO Flute Choir member, Jennifer performed an opening act for the Oregon Symphony Orchestra at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Jennifer was also invited to play with UO School of Music and Dance faculty during a Martin Luther King Jr. Equity and Diversity Luncheon. Jennifer marched two years with the Oregon Marching Band, during which she had the opportunity to perform at various stages such as Autzen Stadium, the Redbox Bowl, Disneyland, and the Rose Bowl.
Jennifer recently went on tour with the Seattle Cascades Drum and Bugle Corps in 2024 as a bass tech. She has been the flute instructor at CHOMP for the past 3 years as well. Jennifer currently works as an immigration paralegal, and she teaches private flute, piano, and bass drum lessons.
Kate Whitney - Woodwind Technician
Kate Whitney has graduated the University of Oregon with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Music. She has been playing clarinet since the 6th grade. She studied clarinet further with Associate Clarinet Professor Dr. Wonkak Kim from 2017-2021 while attending the University of Oregon. She is a 2017 graduate of Century High School as well as a Century Band alumni. She was involved in marching band from 2013-2017. In the 2016-2017 school year she participated in marching band as the clarinet section leader. As well as being involved in marching band she participated in CHOMP as a high school helper in the clarinet room and in the band room. In the spring of her senior year she and Michelle Maynor ran CHOMP as their senior project. Since then she has participated directly with the University of Oregon’s Clarinet Studio. This includes world debuts’ of multiple clarinet choir works and the annual Clarinet Symposium that takes place in the spring. While participating in the symposium she has been a judge for the clarinet competition. In the fall of 2020 she privately taught many of the century high school clarinetists participating in band.
Evan Saab - Battery Technician & Battery Design
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Aaron Yewman - Battery Technician
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Nylo Lam - Front Ensemble Technician
Nylo is currently attending Portland Community College to complete his associates degree in Music Education.
Nylo marched with the Academy Drum and Bugle Corps in 2023 and 2024 where he served as Center Marimba in the second year. He worked with and taught at Rex Putnam Combined Schools for their 2024 season to help earn them a finalist performance at the WGI World Championships in Percussion Scholastic A.
Nylo is a graudate of Sherwood High School where they earned the Percussion Scholastic Open WGI World Championship Gold Medal his senior year.
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This is his second year teaching at Century and he looks forward to many more.
Susan Leip - Front Ensemble Technician
Susan has been playing music since the age of eight and has been a percussionist for twenty years.
A graduate of Century (Class of 2009), she was a section leader for two years. Susan marched with the front ensemble for the 2006-2007 Century Percussion Ensemble that competed in the WGI Championships.
Susan also attended Portland State University where she was instructed by Joel Bluestone. She graduated from Bushnell University in 2012.
Ashley Hilfer - Visual Technician
Ashley graduated from Glencoe High School in 2017. She graduated from Portland State University in 2023 with a BFA in Nonfiction Creative Writing and a Minor in Political Science.
As of this fall, Ashley will be starting a job with the Hillsboro Public Library.
She marched Oregon Crusaders and Oregon Crusaders Indoor. Currently (in addition to Century), Ashley teaches at Columbians Drum & Bugle Corps and is the Visual Caption Head for Glencoe High School’s marching program.
Morgan Metts - Guard Technician & Visual Technician
Growing up in Southern California, Morgan was surrounded by great marching bands and drum corps. She became fascinated with color guard in particular. Morgan marched in her high school program from 2011-2015. After high school she went on to pursue Drum Corps International and teach local Southern California High School.
Her rookie year of drum corps, she marched Gold Drum and Bugle (2015) and then the next 3 summers she spent marching Oregon Crusaders Drum Corps (2016-2018). A few years later she found herself marching WGI with a group out of Nashville, TN, Eklipse Winterguard, where Morgan spent two winter seasons (2019,2020).
"Marching WGI, I completely fell in love with the activity again, and wanted to grow my love while teaching at local Tennessee High Scools and now Oregon High Schools. I have been with Century High School since 2022 working with the Visual Program and Color Guard".
Dylan Dwyer - Guard Technician
Dylan was born in Virginia and moved to Oregon in early 2014. A Portland resident for the last decade, Dylan attended Westview High School and joined the color guard his freshman year. Acting as Color guard Captain for 3 years, Dylan and the Westview Color guard became the 2016 NWAPA Class AA Marching Band Champions and 2018 NWAPA Scholastic AA Winter guard Champions, as well as many other awards as well as performance opportunities in the Bay Area and Disneyland.
Dylan marched with the Seattle Cascades in 2018 and 2019, becoming Color guard Captain in 2019, and joining the Cascades on their return trip to DCI World Championship Semifinals. Dylan has taught in the area for the last 5 years, and with Century since 2021.
Outside of color guard, Dylan has earned a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from Portland State University in 2023.
Genevieve Gahagan - Guard Technician & Guard Design
Genevieve began her color guard career at Kamiak High School, and has performed with numerous organizations in the area, including the Oregon Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps, OC Indoor, and OC Independent. She then joined the Phantom Regiment for four seasons until aging out in 2016.
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In addition to receiving a Bachelor’s degree in French, Genevieve explored dance and movement extensively at Willamette University. During her semester abroad, she had the unique opportunity of studying Martha Graham technique at the Centre de Danse du Marais in Paris, France.
Over the last decade, Genevieve has designed and taught for several schools, universities, and independent groups in the Pacific Northwest. Her résumé includes Skyview HS, North Salem HS, Willamette University, Cascadia Winterguard, and the Seattle Cascades. This is Genevieve’s fifth school year teaching at Century.
Sam Burnett - Guard Technician
Sam Burnett began her color guard career in high school before transitioning to perform with drum and bugle corps including the Academy and Blue Stars. As a founding member and performer of UNLV Winterguard, she brings a wealth of experience to the field.
Over the past 10 years, Sam’s dedication extends to sharing her expertise as an instructor at high schools such as Arbor View High School, Foothill High School, and Pinecrest Academy Cadence Marching Band in Las Vegas, and now in the Pacific Northwest with Century High School, Southridge High School, and Cascadia Winterguard.
Alongside her pursuits in color guard, Sam holds master's degrees in Public Health from UNLV and Oregon Health & Science University, currently working in quality improvement at a non-profit organization in Portland.
Brianna Rojo - Guard Technician
Brianna graduated from Westview High School, where she participated in the color guard for both fall and winter seasons throughout all fours years of high school. After her junior year, Brianna marched a summer with the Oregon Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps in 2016. Post graduation, she marched two years of Independent Open winter guard with Cascadia Winter guard in 2018 and 2019.
"Travelling to WGI World Championships is one of my favorite guard memories!"
This is Brianna's second year teaching with the color guard at Century High School. Last year, she helped start Century Youth Winter guard for middle school students and looks forward to next season.
Outside of color guard, Brianna can be found working in a laboratory as a phlebotomist and she loves spending time with her family and pets.