Ashely Studer has been guard captain for the Bluecoats the past two seasons. This is her fifth year in the corps. The Bluecoats have never scored higher than this in the early season. It's really exciting because when I joined the corps, they were a 12th-place corps. Every year I've been in the corps continues to get better. It's really amazing. The intensity increases -- the quality of the show -- the talent coming in is stronger each year.

Ashley Studer
When I first started marching here, I didn't think that was something that would happen so soon. It's intense and kind of scary. It's a new level of competition and a new level of performance for everyone in our corps, so we're all experiencing this together for the first time. I look forward to the corps getting better. I'm also looking forward to my home show in Massillon, Ohio, which is also the corps' home show. I'm excited about my family to come see the corps and me. I haven't seen them in a month. They're very supportive of me doing drum corps and I'm excited for them to see all the work we've done since they've last seen us. I'm a dance and education major at the University of Akron. Being in Bluecoats has helped discipline me and has taught me how to manage my time wisely. I want to teach dance and what I've learned in drum corps has helped me to interact with many types of people and has helped me to work in various types of environments. I'm really looking forward to see how it all pans out in the end. I'm hoping, if nothing else, that we become a group that sets new standards.