Vicki Schaffer
Youth Programs Director

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BIO: Vicki Schaffer is the Youth Programs Director for the Colts. In handling the local youth programs offered by the organization, she oversees the Colts Summer Band, PanrythmiX and Pandemonium steel drum ensembles, and Vocal Fusion. Her primary role is Director of the Colt Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps. Besides making sure everyone is the right place at the right time, she spends valuable time working with the Cadets' marching staff and strengthening the visual program.

In her time with the Colt Cadets, she has seen the membership grow from a perfectly-proportioned ensemble of 18 (six each of brass, percussion and color guard) to become a DCI Open Class Finalist for the first time in 2010, finishing in 11th place. The Colt Cadets were named Most Improved Corps in DCI's Division II in 2006.

Vicki is currently serving in her second term as chair of Drum Corps International's Open Class Advisory Committee where she acts as liaison between the Open Class directors and DCI's Board of Directors.

Vicki played baritone for the Colts in 1994 and 1995. She also marched baritone in the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, DC. But her favorite bit of musicianship was on the clarinet as a member of the Wartburg College Concert Band on their 40-day tour of Europe where she soloed during Rhapsody In Blue while sitting on Bach's grave in St. Thomas Church (Leipzig, Germany).

She moved to Dubuque in May 2001 from the English Valleys Community School District, where she served as the 5th-12th grade instrumental music director (as well as "coach" for a variety of sports) from 1998-2001. She earned her degree in music education from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. Vicki serves as an active educator, clinician, and adjudicator in Iowa and the tri-state area. She has taught clarinet privately, and has performed with the Waterloo/Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestras.

While she owns two residences in Dubuque, she now chooses to reside with Jeff (her BFF) in their ofttimes-staff-filled home in the Cedar Lake subdivision.

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