Alumni Association

The Alumni Advisory Council (AAC) comprised of current members of the Alumni Association will serve as the leadership branch of the Association. AAC members are selected via a nomination process for two-year terms and may serve two consecutive terms. Upon the completion of two terms, members must rotate off of the Council for at least one year. Terms will begin in August of the respective year. A Chair and Vice-Chair will be elected from amongst the members of the AAC and these members will serve as liaisons between the school, AAC, and Alumni Association.

The Alumni Association and its leadership serve as an advisory body to promote the goals of the school’s alumni.  Members of the AAC should be prepared to do the following:

1.    Attend (or participate via teleconference) at least 3 of the 4 yearly scheduled meeting.
2.    Regularly attend alumni events scheduled in their area.
3.    Make an annual financial contribution to the Foundation.
4.    Promote alumni, school, and Foundation events.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the AAC, please complete an application here.

Gage Banks (Music, '19) is a musician, educator, and performer based in Columbia, South Carolina. He currently serves as Adjunct Instructor of Marching Percussion at Newberry college and helps run the drums/percussion department at Sims Music, South Carolina’s largest music retailer. As a student at SCGSAH, he performed in the Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Jazz Orchestra, and Symphonia Chamber Orchestra. Gage has since received his BM in performance from Furman University and his MM from the University of South Carolina. He performs regularly as a percussionist in a variety of settings across the southeastern United States including chamber music, concert band, jazz ensembles, and musical theater productions. He is excited to be involved once again with SCGSAH. 

Brian Clement (Creative Writing, Summer Honors Program)  A member of the Founding Alumni, was the first student from Dixie High School in Due West, SC, to attend the Summer Honors Program for Creative Writing way back in 1989. After graduating from high school, Brian attended Winthrop University for English and later earned his certification in Advanced Technical Writing at Kennesaw State University. Currently, Brian can be found in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA, where he is married and the father of four daughters and three cats (also girls), works in logistics management, and seeks out time to create and encourage other writers and artists whenever possible.

Payton Dziekan (Music, '18) is an educator, double bassist, and contralto based in Rochester, New York. Payton is a proud public school educator, directing the DeWitt Road Elementary School orchestras and supporting students as a low-string specialist at Willink Middle School in Webster, NY. She also serves as Director of Music Ministries at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Fairport, NY. Payton’s work focuses primarily on providing equitable and accessible participation in music for learners and musicians of all backgrounds and abilities. As a performer, Payton has enjoyed a varied career of orchestral, choral, chamber music and solo performances. Most recently, Payton served as principal bassist of the Center Stage Pops Orchestra (Rochester NY) and Eastman Music Educators Wind Ensemble. She is a frequent member of pit orchestras for local theatre productions, including the March 2025 Webster, NY premier of Hadestown. Payton is also an active contralto, and was most recently featured as a soloist in Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Rochester. Payton is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, studying music education, double bass and vocal performance. Her previous teachers include Owen Lee of the Cincinnati Symphony, Curtis Burris of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Charlie Nilles of the National Symphony Orchestra. In her spare time, Payton is an avid connoisseur of iced lattes and funky socks. She loves to spend time in nature and with her loved ones, write songs, perform with her bluegrass band and take far too many photos of her one-eyed cat, Morris.
 

Raekwon Fuller (Drama, ’15) is a SC native and a 2019 Drama Graduate of SCGSAH. Raekwon is an actor and an aspiring theatre founder, preparing to continue his studies at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale in the fall. Raekwon believes that SCGSAH has been an incredible blessing to his artistry and laid a firm foundation for his collegiate and post-collegiate journey as a New York-based actor.  Raekwon says he “Thanks God, for ordering my steps and letting me cross paths with SCGSAH."

Tori Hyder (Music, '18) graduated from SCGSAH as a music student specializing in Saxophone performance. She graduated from the College of Charleston in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies. Throughout her college career she had the pleasure of assisting the campus library administration and now serves on the Friends of the Library Board. She is a program associate at the Coastal Community Foundation whose mission is to create vibrant communities throughout the coastal counties of South Carolina. The SCGSAH Foundation made it possible for her to attend SCGSAH, so she finds it kismet that she works in a foundation now. She enjoys going to the ballet and singing karaoke.

Julia Jacobsen is a graduate of the SCGSAH class of 2020, having studied violin with Deirdre Hutton and Jennifer John. She is currently based in Columbia, South Carolina, and a senior in the Honors College at the University of South Carolina where she studies as a violin performance major under Dr. Ari Streisfeld and as a marketing major at the Darla Moore School of Business. Julia is a section violinist for the Aiken Symphony and a substitute violinist for the South Carolina Philharmonic and Long Bay Symphony. Julia works as a marketer for Boulanger Initiative, the USC Symphony, and the USC School of Music. She has also held summer marketing positions at Spoleto Festival USA and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Her mission is to bring full diversity, equity, and accessibility to the classical music industry through her performing and arts marketing. 

Susanne McDonald (Drama, '16) is an actor, producer, and devising theatre artist originally from Charleston, South Carolina. After graduating from the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, she graduated with a Contemporary Theatre degree from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music. In 2023, Susanne had her Off-Broadway directing debut with #uglycry, an experimental phones-on theatrical piece and was honored to be a guest director for the Governor's School Drama Department in the spring of 2024. Aside from theatre, Susanne is very passionate about film production. She produced, wrote, and starred in her own short film, Trivial Pursuits, which was featured in four New York Film Festivals, co-produced a short film, Hero, that was featured in twenty film festivals between 2024 and 2025, and her first feature film, No One Likes a Mad Woman, is currently in pre-production and will be shot in Greenville, South Carolina. She is incredibly excited to be involved with the Alumni Advisory Council.

 

Daquise Montgomery (Music, 07) currently serves as the Assistant Vice President of Human Resources at M&T Bank in the Greater Washington DC Area.  Daquise has embraced multiple leadership and service roles throughout their tenure in their professional career, taking on responsibilities as a board of director, board member, volunteer, mentor, and chair across a variety of organizations. They currently serve as the President-Elect for the DC Equality Chamber Foundation, Membership Steering committee with Alexander Chamber of Commerce where they were a recipient of the 2023 40 under 40 class and a graduate of their Leadership Development class of 2024, the DC Chamber of Commerce, and a board of director for Journey to Josiah, a nonprofit organization.  Hailing from Greenville, South Carolina, Daquise's academic background includes studies in music from the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, Liberal Arts and Music at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, as well as Music and English at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. They are currently completing their master’s degree in human resource strategic management, and they are also gearing up to pursue a Doctor of Business Administration at Bellevue University in the spring of 2024.

 

Kristen Murdaugh (Music, ‘12), mezzo-soprano, is a voice pedagogue, voice scientist, singer, and activist. An evidence-based, identity-affirming, student-centered voice teacher, she believes in helping her students find their most authentic voices through the intersection of cutting-edge voice science and tried-and-true voice pedagogy.  Kristen has a particular research interest in the intersectionality of gender studies and voice science, and through her work, she hopes to foster a more equitable, transparent, and diverse world of singing. With a passion for contemporary repertoire, her notable solo performances include the role of Estelle in Musto’s opera Later the Same Evening, and the contralto solos in the world premiere of LaRosa’s oratorio Joshua. Kristen’s affinity for musical collaboration has led her to performances in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Washington National Cathedral, and Duke Chapel, and she is particularly honored to be a founding member of the service-oriented vocal ensemble Servire.   Kristen is a doctoral researcher and PhD candidate in voice science at the University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria. She holds a Master of Music degree in vocal pedagogy from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance and German studies from Furman University. She is an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA), and Voice Foundation, and serves on the NATS Boston Board as Vice President where she continues to advocate for inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility in the field of singing.

 

Vicki Nooe (Music,’04) is a music director and collaborative pianist in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and currently Lecturer at University of Texas Arlington. She is a proud alumna of the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, Southern Methodist University, and Boston University. She has worked with Dallas Theater Center, Theatre Arlington, WaterTower Theatre, Lyric Stage, and other local theatres. She teaches courses in musical theatre musicianship and musical theatre history at UTA. Vicky is passionate about equipping theatre artists with the practical music skills needed to succeed as musical theatre artists. She has previously taught in music departments at Dallas Baptist University and Southern Methodist University and worked as a vocal coach at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. She has been a staff pianist at Boston Conservatory, Texas Christian University, Hebrew College, and the Upper Valley Music Center. She is a member of the American Federation of Musicians, Pi Kappa Lambda, Music Theatre Educators’ Alliance, and the College Music Society.

 

John Funchess Ott, Jr., graduated from SCGSAH in 2009 with a pre-professional degree in creative writing and currently works at GREEN Charter School as a Social Studies teacher.  After graduating from Governor's School with an 800 out of 800 reading SAT score and a Palmetto Fellows Scholarship, he attended the University of South Carolina Honors College and studied abroad in South Korea and Kenya.  Besides teaching, he is also a professional writer and illustrator and currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina.

 

Josh Myers graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  As an undergraduate student, Josh was a fellow with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, focusing his work on federal arts policy, and subsequently interned with Americans for the Arts.  He also served as a long-term intern for Congressman James E. Clyburn [D-SC-6] and worked as an undergraduate music admissions counselor. Josh received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia. After law school, Josh clerked for the Honorable J. Michelle Childs of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.  He then practiced law at Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough LLP in Washington, D.C.  After almost two years of private practice, Josh then clerked for the Honorable Henry F. Floyd of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for the 2021-2022 term.  He returned to Nelson Mullins to practice law following his second clerkship.  In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, exploring museums, reading novels by Stephen King, and writing on employment law topics.  
  

Taylor Peterson is an accomplished hornist and arts administrator with over nearly two decades of experience as a performer and over a decade of nonprofit service in arts and cultural management. A 2011 graduate of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, he holds a Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance from The Juilliard School, a Master of Music from Northwestern University, and a Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. As a musician, Taylor has performed with esteemed ensembles such as The Juilliard Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, West Point Army Band, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the New England Symphonic Ensemble, amongst others at the national level. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall over 30 times, showcasing his artistry on one of the world’s most prestigious stages as an orchestral and pit musician.
A creative professional with a dual career, Taylor currently serves as the Senior Development Officer of Campaigns & Special Gifts at The New York Historical, where he spearheaded a $175 million capital campaign in partnership with The American LGBTQ+ Museum, successfully achieving full funding for a new wing at New York’s first museum. He has held development and marketing roles at renowned institutions, including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, where he led initiatives to grow donor bases, managed multimillion-dollar campaigns, and enhanced audience engagement. Taylor also serves on the fundraising committee of the Alumni Advisory Council for SCGSAH and is an active member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals-New York Chapter. With his unique blend of artistic talent and administrative expertise, Taylor is a dynamic leader making a significant impact in the performing arts and nonprofit sector.

Carrena Spann (Drama, '23) hails from Columbia, SC. She attends Case Western Reserve University, where she currently pursues a B.A. in Theater and minor in Studio Art. A multidisciplinary theatre artist, Carrena aims to amplify the complexities of the human condition with an awe solely gifted by her Creator. She is a recipient of the CWRU Theater Department’s Full Tuition Dunn scholarships and currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Case Reserve Review, her campus’ literary and art magazine. Recent credits include the role of Annie Canon in the CWRU Theater Department’s production of Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson, Costumes Head for the CWRU Footlighters' production of Footloose, and Costume Designer for the CWRU Players Theater Group’s production of Proof. She is an awardee of the CWRU English Department’s Emily Hills Prize for poetry in second place, and was a member of the 2023 class of the American Theatre Wing and Design Action’s Springboard to Design program.