Dance

Helen French
Dance
frenchh@pcsb.org

 

Patricia Paige
Dance, chair
paigep@pcsb.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patricia McNally
Dance

Patricia McNally owns the Patricia Ann Dance Studios in Dunedin, Florida with her mother Elaine Forestier. Patricia was trained in ballet, lyrical, jazz  and tap, then continued her education in the BFA program for dance at Southern Methodist University. Additionally, throughout her dance education, Patricia also trained vocally in preparation for a career in musical theater. Patricia has performed extensively in shows like Hello Dolly, Guys and Dolls, Can Can, the Boyfriend, Sophisticated Ladies and Cats to name a few. Upon returning to Florida, she created a musical theater youth performance troupe and a competitive dance team for the dance studios. Patricia has adjudicated for Ruth Eckerd Hall scholarships, taught for the Florida Dance Festival, choreographed for Dunedin and Tarpon Springs high school musicals, as well as speaking at many local venues promoting arts in education. Ms. McNally is proud to have students who have appeared in “America’s Best Dance Crew”, the revivals of “A Chorus Line”  and “West Side Story” on Broadway, “Jubilee” in Las Vegas as well as Busch Gardens, Holland America and tours throughout the world! Patricia currently continues her teaching at Patricia Ann Dance Studios and at Pinellas County Center for the Arts/Gibbs High school where she teaches Musical Theatre dance. Ms. McNally also oversees the facilitation of dance classes offered to before/after care and summer camps throughout Pinellas County through Coordinated Child Care services. Ms. McNally is an American Ballet Theatre certified teacher in the National Training  Curriculum for Levels Pre-Primary, Primary, I, II and III.

Music

Ann Adair
Director of Instrumental Studies; Music Theory
adaira@pcsb.org

Ann Adair, Director of Instrumental Studies, holds both the Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Performance from the University of South Florida. She has worked as a performer, director, arranger, accompanist, theorist, and educator over the last several decades. She has performed with numerous orchestras, chamber ensembles, and festivals throughout her career. Though primarily a bassoonist, she also enjoys playing piano and recorder.

Mrs. Adair teaches instrumental music, music theory, music history, and the music senior seminar. Outside the classroom, she serves as PCCA chair on the SBLT (School Based Leadership Team), SAC (School Advisory Council) chair, and Gibbs Academic Team Coach. As a part of All-County Music Festivities, she chairs the PCMEA New Music Festival (formerly Composition Contest). 

 Ann lives in Tampa with her husband of 28 years, Jonathan. They have two grown children, Elizabeth and William, and a grand-dog, Vivian.

Matthew David Clear

 

Robert Thomas

Instrumental Music

thomasrob@pcsb.org 

Mr. Robert Thomas, a native of Miami, FL, and a graduate of Florida A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education has performed across the United States with various bands including the Richard Strachen Jazz Orchestra to the President’s Own Army Concert Band under the leadership of Colonel Gabriel Arnold. He has taught in the Florida’s Public-school system for over 10 years. His continued demand for excellence and dedication makes him one of the top band leaders in the in the music realm through-out the state of Florida. He is a member of the Upsilon Psi Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity Incorporated.  He is currently working on his Master of Arts in Music Education at University of South Florida.

 

Applied Music

Amy Collins

Applied Oboe and Bassoon

 

Amy Collins, oboist, is presently a member of the artistic faculty at The University of South Florida and principal oboist with Opera Tampa under the direction of Maestro Anton Copolla.  Ms. Collins is on the faculty of The InterHarmony International Summer Music Festival in Europe,  second oboist with The Classical Summer Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria and was honored in the Fall of 2007 to perform for  Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome Italy where she made history as being the first instrumentalist to perform in the Basilica of St. Peters since Pope John Paul I.  In addition to The University of South Florida, Ms. Collins is also on faculty at Florida College, Hillsborough Community College, and she has an active private studio.  She was English hornist with The West Coast Symphony for six years,  second oboe/English hornist with The West Coast Symphony for five years, and principal oboist of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra in Ft. Myers for six years prior.  Ms. Collins has played with The New York City Opera Company, Miami City Ballet Company, Joffrey Ballet, The Moisiev Ballet, Mannheim Steamroller, and with such greats as Andrea Bocelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Tony Bennett, and Diana Ross, to name a few.  Ms. Collins released her first solo oboe recording in 1995 entitled “Amy and Friends” and her second oboe recording in 1998 entitled “Amy and Friends at Christmas”.  Ms. Collins has given clinics throughout the United States.  She has received two grants from The Pinellas County Arts Council and has served on the grant committee for The Pinellas County Arts Council.  She has also been an Allstate oboe adjudicator.    Ms. Collins is president of her own business; The Stellar Corporation, Inc. dba Stellar Oboe Products.

 

 

 

  

Dawne Wisner Eubanks
Applied Voice

Dawne Wisner Eubanks holds a BA Degree in Vocal Music from Florida State University, and currently teaches voice at Eckerd College, as well as the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School. Her solo career has led her to the stages of Carnegie Hall, the Meyerson Symphony Center, the Mahaffey Theatre, Ruth Eckerd Hall, and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Other singing highlights include performances with the Florida Opera Co., Florida Opera West, Inc., The Florida Orchestra, The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Florida Orchestra Master Chorale, and the Turtle Creek Chorale, working with renowned conductors such as Robert Summer, Robert Shaw, Daniel Moe, Julius Rudel, Sir David Wilcox, and Timothy Seelig. Dawne has received outstanding reviews for her roles in local productions of Pirates of Penzance, Two By Two, and Little Mary Sunshine, to name some favorites. Recent performances include the soprano solos in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Creation, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, and Handel’s Messiah with members of The Florida Orchestra, as well as musical directing an Eckerd College student production of Into the Woods. Dawne is the assistant music director at the First Baptist Church of St. Pete, maintains a private vocalstudio, and is a sought after vocal coach and adjudicator for competitions and festivals in voice, choral music, musical theatre, and piano. 

Joyce Liu

Applied Piano and Voice

 

Joyce S. Liu received her Bachelors degree in piana and voice performance from Mills College. Ms. Liu has appeared on public radio and can be heard fa-la-la-ing on Barry Banilow's Because It's Christmas album. She co-founded the soprano duo, Vocalisa, and has performed in many settings singing early music, classical arias and folk songs in the U.S. and in Iceland.

 

An active member of both the Music Teaches National Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Ms. Liu's students have won prizes in the Tampa Bay NATS Student Auditions, Florida Suncoast Opera Guild High School Competition, Schmidt Youth Vocal Competition, the Grady-Rayam Negro Spiritual Scholarship Competition, Pinellas Education Foundation's Walkers Rising Stars Competition, and also the Emeric Lazar, Erma Coleman and Frederic Chopin Piano Competitions sponsored by the Greater Pinellas MTA.

 

Recognized as a Top Music Teacher in 2016 by Steinway & Sons, Ms. Liu maintains a lively private studio in the Historic Kenwood area of St. Petersburg and teaches at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School. She also serves as the part-time cantor at her synagogue. She loves teaching and enjoys promoting arts advocacy and music literacy, especially for young artists.

Dwight Thomas

Harold Van Schaik
Applied Trombone, Euphonium, and Tuba

Harold Van Schaik has been the Bass Trombonist with The Florida Orchestra since 1993. He has also performed with many orchestras throughout the United States including the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic.

Outside the Symphony, Harold is an active chamber musician performing and recording with the Nay Palm Bones trombone quartet and Sovereign Brass Union large brass ensemble. He also works regularly as a studio musician recording for film, TV, radio and commercial artists. Working in the jazz and show fields, Harold has performed with the big bands of Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Les Brown as well as touring with Frank Sinatra Jr., Steve & Eydie, Natalie Cole, Tommy Tune, Wayne Newton, Burt Bacharach and Ray Charles.

Harold brings to PCCA over 25 years experience as a private trombone teacher. Several of his student have won the high school divisions of The National Trombone Solo Competition and International Trombone Association Competition. Many of his other students were accepted at prestigious music school such as Juilliard, Curtis, Eastman, New England Conservatory, Nothwestern University, Indiana University and Cleveland Institute of Music. Several of his former students are currently working as symphonic musicians or active freelance performers in the U.S. and Europe.

Harold has performed recitals and masterclasses at colleges and universities throughout the U.S., has been a featured artist at the Eastern Trombone Workshop and International Trombone Festival and has taught at the Interlochen National Music Camp.

Harold is a performing artist for S.E. Shires Trombones.

Trish Grunz

Dustin Hinzman

Musical Theatre

Theatre Department Chair

hinzmand@pcsb.org

 

Dustin Hinzman (MME, Florida State University) has taught voice and musical theatre in Pinellas County Schools since 2007. His students consistently earn superior ratings and are selected for critic’s choice showcases at music and theatre performance assessments, both at the local and state level. His students have performed with a variety of industry professionals in concert such as Kristin Chenoweth (B’way: Wicked), and have trained in acting workshops in New York City with Broadway professionals such as Olivia Phillip (B’way: Waitress and Frozen) and Etai Benson (B’way: The Band’s Visit). Mr. Hinzman’s students have received a variety of industry and collegiate awards including countless musical theatre intensives at Texas State University and LIU Post, and most recently, nominations to participate in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (“The Jimmys”) in New York. Mr. Hinzman is the current sponsor of PCCA’s Troupe 3756 of the International Thespian Society, as well as the Community Partner Liaison for the Straz Center for the Performing Arts and its educational arm, the Patel Conservatory.

 

Trish Kelley
Design Technology, Costume Design
kelleyp@pcsb.org

Trish Kelley is a member of the Technical Theatre department at PCCA and serves at the Costume and Stage Makeup Designer for the program.  The classes she teaches include Stage Makeup I, Costume Design, Stagecraft I and freshman through senior level costume construction.  She began her teaching career with Pinellas County Schools in 1996 as a visual arts/costume design instructor at John Hopkins Middle School.  An opportunity to become the costume designer for PCCA became available in 1999 and that is when she became part of the PCCA program. Since that time she has coordinated and overseen the costuming, hair and makeup needs of many, many PCCA productions.  The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, and Les Miserables and The Man Who Came to Dinner are a few of her favorite designs.

 Mrs. Kelley received her Associate of Arts from Florida State University and went on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL.  At Arrowmount School of Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN, Trish completed advanced classes in Fiber Arts.  She has also completed classes in Stage, TV, Film and Historic Makeup Design at the London College of Fashion in London, England as the result of receiving a Surdna Arts Teacher Fellowship Grant.

 In addition to teaching at PCCA, Trish has taught and worked in many of the performing arts and visual art venues in the Tampa Bay area. She has been a visual arts instructor for the education departments of The Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Dunedin Fine Arts Center, and the Beach Art Center in Indian Rocks Beach.  She taught and designed for the education department of The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center from 1999-2004. In addition she has also designed for the education departments of The Palladium, and The Hoffman Institute at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

 Trish continues to work professionally as a costume designer. Locally, she has designed for productions at the Studio at 620 and the American Stage Theatre Company. Most recently she designed for productions of The Foreigner and The Rocky Horror Show at the American Stage Theatre. She was awarded the 2012 Jeff Norton Outstanding Costume Design for her Rocky Horror Show design.

Visual Art

 

Steve Beverage
Visual Art Department Chair
beverages@pcsb.org

Steve Beverage is a painter and sculptor.  His recent work has been sculpted portrait busts inspired by Christian faith.  He received his MFA in studio art from USF in 2000 and has been making art and teaching in the Tampa Bay area for the past 12 years. Steve lives in Palm Harbor, FL with his son Kyle. He was a full-time faculty member at the Art Institute of Tampa and has taught at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota and the Art Center in St. Petersburg.

 

 

Brian McAllister

Visual Art

mcallisterj@pcsb.org

Brian McAllister is an illustrator, muralist, and visual arts instructor.  After graduating from Ringling College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration, Mr. McAllister worked as a freelance artist across the county, and eventually landing him on the tiny Island of Saipan before returning to the St. Petersburg area. Upon arrival, he founded a community outreach mural program with students from the Pinellas County Center for the Arts called Gibbs Mural Club. Since then, the team has collaborated with local artists, several businesses, and schools, to contribute to the blossoming Art Community of St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Florida.

 

 

 

Amber Quimby

Visual Art

quimbya@pcsb.org

 

Amber Quimby is a life-long artist who earned her MFA degree in Printmaking from the University of South Florida and BFA degree from Ringling College of Art and Design in Printmaking and Painting. With nearly a decade of teaching and management experience, she was a full-time faculty member at the AutoNation Academy of Art + Design at the NSU Museum of Art Ft. Lauderdale from 2011-2014 before being named its Director of Education and Programming in July 2014.  In 2015, Amber returned to the Ringling College of Art and Design as an adjunct Faculty Member.  Her teaching experience includes St. Petersburg College and Osceola Fundamental High School. Amber has taught courses printmaking, painting, drawing, sculpture and art history.  Her courses emphasize creativity as a key to engaging and empowering students.  She is a winner of the Janet Turner Print Museum annual competition, and her paper sculpture works have been exhibited at Florida Craft Art, Morean Art Center, Galley 2014 and at other venues throughout Florida. She is a second-generation Floridian and a native of St. Petersburg.

  

LaTasha Gilbert
PCCA Secretary

gilbertla@pcsb.org

Derek Edward Weston
Program Director and Assistant Principal
westond@pcsb.org

Derek Edward Weston, Program Director and Assistant Principal, served as Director of Choral Studies and Chairman of the Music Department for 13 years prior to his present appointment.  The PCCA Symphonic Chorus frequently performed masterworks with the PCCA Orchestra under his baton.  His reputation as a choral conductor earned Derek the honor of serving as the Visiting Director of Choral Activities for Eckerd College during the spring of 2006.  In addition to his duties at PCCA, he serves as the Director of Traditional Music and Worship at First United Methodist Church of St. Petersburg, and has served as Conductor of the Richey Community Orchestra, and as Artistic Director of Diversity: Voices of Sarasota and Una Voce: The Florida Men's Chorale.  

A native of Illinois, Derek earned his Master’s Degree in Orchestral and Choral Conducting and his Bachelor of Music Education degrees from Eastern Illinois University, where he was privileged to conduct a number of choral and orchestral masterworks in performance.  He also holds a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from Saint Leo University. Derek has conducted orchestras and choruses in Florida, Illinois, South Carolina, Colorado, and New York, including serving as Assistant Conductor for a performance in Carnegie Hall.  Derek made his international conducting debut in 2003 with the Rosario Symphony Orchestra in Rosario, Argentina, one of South America’s premier orchestras.  He is active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for festivals, both choral and instrumental.  Derek, his wife Gwenn, son Gregory, and daughter Grace live in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Mikaela Manzella, School Counselor PCCA Magnet
727-893-5452 Ext. 2063
manzellam@pcsb.org 

Mikaela Manzella, an Illinois native, earned her Master of Education in School Counseling from Northern Illinois University. She currently serves on the board for the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development and is a Certified Trauma Professional. Making students feel seen/heard while creating meaningful connections is something that she holds to the highest regard. Allowing students to showcase who they truly are prior to making prejudgments is a key component of Mikaela’s counseling approach.

Though Mikaela went to school for counseling, she is passionate about the arts as well. Growing up, she was a dancer for 13 years. She danced all styles such as ballet, hip hop, jazz, and tap. In high school and college, she was in musical theatre productions, theatre tech, and madrigal, accapella, show, and jazz choir. Having a love of arts and supporting student success has made this to be the perfect role for Mikaela.