Additional Staff
The Reagan band program is fortunate to have additional support staff that help with instruction of our auxiliary groups including front ensemble, drumline, color guard, winter guard, and band dance. Staff members all share the common goal of positive student experience, quality education, and success in performance opportunities.
Benjamin Pyles is an active designer and educator based out of San Antonio, TX where he serves as the Athletic Percussion Director at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Mr. Pyles is also the current Battery Designer and Ensemble Coordinator for the Mandarins Drum & Bugle Corps from Sacramento, CA, and a music designer for Monarch Independent from, Houston, TX.
Mr. Pyles has well over a decade worth of World Class performing, instructional, and design experience, including the Bluecoats from Canton, OH; The Crossmen from San Antonio, TX; Glassmen from Toledo, OH; Spirit of Atlanta, from Atlanta GA; and the Colts from Dubuque, IA.
Along with teaching and designing, Benjamin Pyles is also a proud endorser of Innovative Percussion Inc, Pearl and Adams Percussion, and Sabian Cymbals.
Andy Foerschler has been a percussion instructor for the bands at Ronald Reagan HS since he arrived in San Antonio in 2019. He previously served on the music faculty at Baker University in Kansas and was percussion director and arranger for several high schools in the Kansas City area, where he began his teaching career in 2010. Mr. Foerschler received his BM with Honors in Percussion from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and his MM in Percussion from the UMKC Conservatory of Music & Dance. He was a member of the Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corps, and has performed professionally with the Kansas City Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, the Des Moines Metro Opera, and the National Festival Orchestra in Washington, DC. Additionally, Mr. Foerschler wrote and performed for the KC Chiefs Rumble Drumline. Andy Foerschler maintains an active freelance career as a concert percussionist, drumset artist, private instructor, adjudicator, clinician, and composer/arranger.
Juan Arreguin started teaching in 2017 as a percussion instructor at Reagan High School. Mr. Arreguin is an alum of Reagan High School, graduating in 2017. He also was a member of the Boston Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps for 2017, 2018 and 2019, as well as, the Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps in 2021. He has won numerous composition competitions including the European Film Festival Competition in 2019. He also received the 2021 Drum Corps International I&E Timpani championship. Mr. Arreguin is now a freelance composer, private lesson instructor, and master class teacher in the San Antonio area.
Cayla Crews is a Color Guard Technician at Ronald Reagan High School. She began her teaching career in 2019 at Reagan HS. Ms. Crews is a fellow alum of the Ronald Reagan Colorguard and currently attends the University of Texas at San Antonio pursuing a Bachelor’s in Finance. While Ms. Crews assists Tykeem Rainey and Kim Booher with the Reagan Colorguard, she also continues to perform with the Origins Colorguard. Ms Cayla Crews has been participating in color guard since she was 13 and continues to do so today.
Alexis Dillon has been part of the Color Guard staff at Ronald Reagan High School since 2021, after starting her teaching career in 2018. She marched with both the Origins Open Winter Guard and the Madison Scouts Drum Corps in 2020 and 2021, and was a Color Guard Captain during her time with the Madison Scouts. In the Spring of 2022, Ms. Dillon completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminology from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. In addition to her responsibilities at Reagan, she currently holds the position of Assistant Color Guard Director at Davenport High School.
Dan Morrison was Director of Bands at Ronald Reagan High School in San Antonio, Texas from 2015-2021. During his tenure, the program was a multiple-time Bands of America Regional and Super Regional Champion and Grand National Finalist, a UIL State Marching Contest Finalist, a national winner of the NBA Blue Ribbon award, and earned invitations to perform in the 2019 Macy’s Parade with a feature on the TODAY show, as well as the 2018 Rose Parade. The Wind Ensemble was a TMEA State Honor Band finalist, a Mark of Excellence National Winner, and an invited performer at The Midwest Clinic in 2018. He was named the 2020 Texas Outstanding Young Bandmaster.
Mr. Morrison is a Partner and Director of Development at Apartment 3C, a film and television production company in Los Angeles, California. He also hosts the Happy, Not Satisfied Podcast and runs a marching band consulting and design company.
Mr. Morrison is currently pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dan is enjoying life with his wife, Ellie, and their son Leo.
Mason Daffinee is a music educator, clinician, field show designer, and military spouse. He resides in Schwedelbach, Germany, where he happily supports his wife, a Bandsman in the USAFE (United States Air Force in Europe) Band stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
Mr. Daffinee is a native of Binghamton, New York, and a graduate of Ithaca College, where he earned a BM in Tuba Performance and Music Education. He was a four-year member of the Spectrum Drum and Bugle Corps from Owego, New York, and a four-year and twelve-year staff member of the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps from Rockford, Illinois. Upon graduation from college, Mr. Daffinee toured North America and Japan with the Tony Award-Winning Broadway show Blast! As a marching member of the Phantom Regiment, Mason was the 2002 DCI Tuba Solo Contest Gold Medalist and was named the Mark Glasscoe Memorial Member of the Year.
Most recently, Mason served as an Associate Director of Bands at Ronald Reagan High School in San Antonio, Texas. While there, he assisted in facets of the band program. Despite the distance and being temporarily out of the classroom, his passion for the marching arts continues today through his drill design for Reagan High School and other bands nationwide.
His drill designs have facilitated success for performers at multiple local, state, and national competitions, including the UIL State Marching Contest, BOA Regionals, Super Regionals, and Grand National Championships.
Before moving to San Antonio, Mr. Daffinee was Assistant Director of Bands at Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas, and a teacher at Georgetown ISD, Irving ISD, and the Vestal Central School District.
Mason is also an active clinician and leadership facilitator for the SASI leadership company.
For over 3 decades, Andy has been active and passionate participant in the marching arts community as a performer, choreographer, judge, and consultant. You can find his most recent work on the BOA stage with such marching band titans as Carmel HS from Carmel, IN, and Ronald Reagan HS from San Antonio, TX. During the winter months, Andy designs for Pride of Cincinnati and Carmel High School winter guards among others and has been a member of the WGI Steering Committee since 2016.
In 1999, Andy had the distinct honor of performing as an original cast member of the Emmy and Tony award-winning production of Blast! in London’s West End. He continued his role on Broadway in New York City until the show’s closure in 2001.
Andy earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago where he resides today. His practice and education in this field has had a significant role in in his approach to movement training and shaping the lives of young adults world wide.
A great deal of admiration and gratitude is owed to the teams of artists that Andy has had the privilege of collaborating with over the years. He looks forward to maintaining and expanding his relationships in the pageantry community and sharing his passion for the marching arts.