Hello, my name is Israel Gutierrez. I am 25 years old and I was born and raised in Pasadena, CA. I started my marching arts journey at Marshall Fundamental Secondary School. I joined the marching band as a mellophone player and I marched mellophone for two fall seasons. My freshman year I joined winterguard and it changed my life! Following my freshman season of winterguard, I marched at Gold Drum and Bugle Corps in 2014 and it sparked my passion for drum corps. I graduated from Marshall Fundamental in 2017 and that summer I decided to audition for the Sacramento Mandarins. I marched that summer with the Mandarins and returned in 2018 as one of the colorguard captains. I was participating in winterguard with Diamanté from 2018-2022 while I was earning my BS in Chemistry.
My drum corps teaching background begins at Troopers DBC in 2022. That was my first time teaching at world class drum corps and we made Troopers history in making finals. Another drum corps I played a critical role in is Impulse DBC from 2023-2024. Impulse earned a bronze medal at the California Open Class Championships in 2024 which hadn’t been done in over 15 for that organization. I currently teach at Schurr HS, Arcadia HS, La Cañada HS, and Los Alamitos HS. In addition to those high school programs, I am currently a choreographer for Malachi and Elan Winterguard. I am super excited and honored to be returning to my home corps and helping the future generation of dragons reach new heights!