Joshua Light is Director of the Soddy-Daisy High School Band of Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee. Mr. Light is responsible for the direction of the Marching Trojans, 2 concert bands, jazz band, and 2 winter guards.
Since becoming director in 2014, the marching band at Soddy-Daisy HS has won their class at the USBands Southern States Championship in 2014 and was a finalist in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The band participated in their first Bands of America Regional since 1999, and was the feature band in the Atlanta Children's Christmas Parade in 2015. The Wind Ensemble has received Superior Ratings at all ETSBOA Performance Assessment events in grades V and VI and received the TBA Sweepstakes Award each year since 2014. The winter guard program was restarted in 2015, completed the first circuit competition year in 2016, and grew to 2 guards in 2017 with the JV Guard winning a bronze medal and the Varsity Guard winning a silver medal at SAPA Championships. Since then, The Varsity Guard has been a 3 time WGI Regional Finalist, and a WGI World Championship Semi-Finalist!
Mr. Light has been a band director in Tennessee since 2002. He received his Bachelor’s in Music Education from Tennessee Technological University in 2002 and his Master’s in Education in Educational Leadership from Union College in Barbourville, KY in 2008. Mr. Light was Director of Bands at Church Hill and Surgoinsville Middle Schools in 2002. In 2003, he became Director of Bands at Volunteer High School in Church Hill, TN where he taught until 2014.
Mr. Light’s professional affiliations include National Association for Music Education, East Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association, Tennessee Bandmasters Association, the National Education Association, American School Band Directors Association, and the Tennessee Education Association. He has served as a Mentor Teacher for Western Carolina University and was selected as the Hawkins County Schools “Teacher of the Year” in 2010. In 2019/2020, he was selected as a Quarterfinalist for the Grammy Music Educator of the Year award. He also serves as a drill writer and program designer for many marching programs throughout the Southeast.
Mr. Light currently resides in Soddy-Daisy with his wife Becky and their 4 cats.
Coleen Pruitt Assistant Director of Bands
Coleen Pruitt is the assistant director of the Soddy Daisy High School Band. She earned her degree in music education from the Ohio State University, where she studied oboe with William Baker. Mrs. Pruitt is a member of the Tennessee Music Educators Association, the East Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association, and the International Double Reed Society. The bands she has worked with have performed in Atlanta, Orlando, Chicago, Annapolis, Baltimore, Sydney, Australia and the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. Mrs. Pruitt also works as a woodwind instructor and clinician. Her students have participated in the East Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association’s All East Senior Clinic and Junior Clinic, Georgia All State Band, Georgia Governor’s Honors School and Tennessee Governor’s School.
She previously taught at St. Paul Lutheran School in Peachtree City, Georgia and also taught at Chickamauga Elementary and Gordon Lee High School in Chickamauga. While teaching at St. Paul, the middle school band program more than doubled in size and competed at band festivals for the first time in their school history. She also established a successful choral program with the middle school choir receiving superior ratings their first year at festival.
Mrs. Pruitt has performed as principle oboist with the Southern Crescent Symphony Orchestra in Atlanta, Ga., the Rome Community Orchestra and the Columbus Women’s Symphony.
Mrs. Pruitt resides in Hixson with her husband Stewart and their two children, Kevin and Sarah.
