Battery Staff

Nate Carroll graduated from Chino Hills HS in 2014 and began his teaching career straight out of high school. He was a member of Pulse Percussion from 2015 to 2018, leading the group in 2017 and 2018. He has taught multiple award-winning WGI Scholastic and Junior Class ensembles across Southern California, including Townsend JHS, and Chino Hills HS. Currently, Nate runs the percussion programs at Sierra Vista HS and Walnut HS.

Nate continues to develop his teaching experience and philosophy across all experience levels and has grown a passion for youth education since aging out of the activity in 2018.

Nate has served as a consultant for WGI World Class Finalist, POW Percussion, serving as Battery Coordinator in 2019. His DCI teaching experience includes Gold Drum & Bugle Corps in 2018; Pacific Crest Drum & Bugle Corps in 2017, 2019, and 2024; Blue Stars Drum & Bugle Corps in 2024. Nate is a member of the Vic Firth Educational team and lives in Chino Hills, CA.

This will be Nate’s 3rd year with Elan.

Seth Fajardo is a percussion instructor currently based in the Pasadena area. In the past, Seth has taught at multiple high schools but currently works at North Torrance High School. Aside from just teaching high school, Seth is also a snare tech at the Blue Knights, and is excited to be returning to Élan for his second year as Battery Manager. As a performer, Seth spent multiple years at Pacific Crest and Pulse Percussion, winning gold twice as well as getting the world record. He is also currently pursuing a degree in music education from Pasadena City College.

This will be Seth’s 2nd year with Elan

James is an educator from Southern California. He was the Co-Battery manager for Great Oak High School’s world/open class drumline from 2021-2024, and managed their A class indoor battery as well from 2021-2023. He spent the 2024 summer on staff with Blue Stars Drum and Bugle corps as a snare tech. He is ecstatic about returning to Elan percussion for his second season as a snare technician!

James’ performance career includes Pulse Percussion from 2020-2023. Pacific Crest 2019 and Bluecoats 2022!

James is currently pursuing a degree in Kinesiology, with a focus in Movement Science from CSU San Marcos and is expecting to graduate in May of 2025! He currently resides in Temecula, CA.

This will be James’s 2nd year with Elan.

Will Fisher is a marching percussion educator and designer who currently serves as Percussion Director at El Segundo HS and North Torrance HS.

After his introduction to the marching arts as a student at El Segundo, Will went on to march Impulse Drum & Bugle Corps in 2017, Pacific Crest Drum & Bugle Corps in 2018, Dark Sky Percussion in 2019, and Blue Devils B Drum & Bugle Corps in 2019. After that, he volunteered his time to help out at his alma mater where he quickly discovered that he has a strong passion for helping students discover their paths to the best versions of themselves.

Since then, Will has served as Battery Tech at North Torrance HS (2022), Battery Manager at Palisades Charter HS (2022-2023), Battery Tech at Mira Costa HS (2023), and Snare Tech at Gold Indoor Percussion (2023).

Outside of the activity, Will received a BS in Mathematics from Loyola Marymount University.

This will be Will's 1st year with Elan.

Tiffany is a bass instructor from Orange County, CA. Her marching experience includes Golden Empire DBC (2018), POW Percussion (2019-2020), Pacific Crest (2020), RCC (2022), and aged out at Carolina Crown(2022).

During her marching career, Tiffany also taught at Pacifica HS from 2018-2021.

Outside of the marching activity, Tiffany has her Bachelor’s in Computer Science with a concentration on data science and big data from California State University of Fullerton. She is currently a SQL developer and is competitive powerlifter.

This will Tiffany’s 2nd year with Elan.

Sam Figueroa is an educator based in mid town Los Angeles , Sam has worked with Los Angeles High School , Huntington Park HS , South Pasadena HS and Paloma Valley HS. He is currently working with South Torrance HS and Impulse Drum and Bugle Corps .
His marching experience includes Gold Indoor (2019) , Gold Drum and Bugle Corps (2019), Meraki Percussion (2020), and Dark Sky (2022).

This will be Sam’s 2nd year with Elan.

Gabriel is a composer and educator living in Fullerton CA who has taught a few different programs including Blue Devils B, Dark Sky, and Elan Percussion as well as various high school programs. He loves eating yummy food and playing drum!

This will be Gabe’s 2nd year with Elan.

His marching experience includes Chino Hills HS 2014-2017, Pacific Crest Drum & Bugle Corps 2018, RCC fall 2018 & 2020, and POW Percussion 2019-2020. He has taught at Chino Hills HS, Montclair HS, and Corona HS as part of the battery staff. He is now the battery manager at San Marino HS and percussion caption head at Orange Vista HS. This will be his 4th year with San Marino and 6th year with Orange Vista. For independent he was the quad tech at Gold indoor 2022-2023 as well as Gold Drum & Bugle Corps 2022. He was also the quad tech at Pacific Crest Drum & Bugle Corps 2023.

This will be Terrell’s 2nd year with Elan.

Jordan is a lifelong SoCal resident and enjoys board games, writing, film, and Dungeons & Dragons.

His performance experience includes Chino Hills High School 2012-15, Pulse Percussion 2016, POW Percussion 2017, and Mandarins 2017. He has taught Impulse DBC, Etiwanda High School, Corona High School, Instinct, and Meraki. He has also provided clinic work for schools around the SoCal area.

This will be Jordan’s 1st year with Elan.

HI I’m JC I graduated from Etiwanda high school in 2020, I went on to March Vessel in 2023. During my time in the activity I feel like I picked things up very quickly I didn’t go on to March anything after 2023 due to circumstances. However I stand to share what I learned to the next generation of students to further their understanding of the activity. I started teaching Last year with Elan and had so much fun with being emerged in the teaching side of it. I’m excited to work with the excellent staff that has been chosen this year. Thank you for giving me another opportunity to continue educating and showing off what I learned.

This will be JC’s 2nd year with Elan.