Dr. Elizabeth DeBessonet

Mr. Luke Meche was born and raised in Fort Mill, SC, where he attended Fort Mill High School and was a four year member of the Fort Mill High School Band. He received the Teacher Cadet and Teaching Fellows scholarships and attended the University of South Carolina, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education. He was also a three year member of the Carolina Band!  He began his teaching career at Herbert A. Wood Elementary School in West Columbia, SC as a music teacher from 2020-2022. Mr. Luke Meche is currently on his third year as the band director at Swansea High School. 

In his spare time, Mr. Luke Meche enjoys performing in the Carolina Winds Ensemble and the SC Brass Band ensemble as a percussionist. He also enjoys attending numerous South Carolina Gamecock athletic events, including football, basketball, and baseball games. He loves spending time with his beautiful wife Katie and his sweet and charming Dachshund puppy named Willy B.

Ms. Randall earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Charleston Southern University and is in her 23rd year of teaching.  Ms. Randall was the 2008-2009 Jasper County School District Teacher of the Year and was a quarterfinalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award in 2020.  She was recently named the Sandhills Middle School Teacher of the Year for 2024-2025. 

Ms. Randall remains active as a presenter, performer, and clinician. She has recently presented at music education conferences in South Carolina, West Virginia, Connecticut and the 2023 MidWest Conference in Chicago. In 2025, she will be presenting at music education conferences in Louisiana and Tennessee.

Ms. Randall currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Junior Jazz Foundation in Hilton Head, SC and is a member of several professional organizations including National Association for Music Educators, South Carolina Music Educators Association, South Carolina Band Directors Association, Women Band Directors International, Servant Leadership Association for Music and Phi Beta Mu.

Dr. Elizabeth DeBessonet has been a teacher for 10 years. She originally hails from Chesterfield, South Carolina, where she attended Chesterfield High School and graduated in 2011.  After high school, she attended Furman University from 2011 to 2015, when she graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education and graduated with her teacher certification.  Once she graduated, she accepted the band director position at Newberry Middle School, where she stayed from 2015 until 2019.  During her time at Newberry Middle School, the band experienced tremendous growth and success.  They made consistent excellent ratings at CPA under her leadership, grew from 60 members to 250 by the end of her time there, and had students earn chairs in the SCBDA Region 6 Honor Band. In the last two years in Newberry, she began an online Masters program through the University of Nebraska at Kearney to earn a Master of Arts Education in Music, which she earned in December 2019.

Dr. Elizabeth DeBessonet is the current band director at Frances Mack Intermediate School.  After her time at Newberry Middle School, she accepted the position at FMIS in 2019.  In the 6 years she has been part of the Lexington 4 community, she has advocated for appropriate instrumental music education.  When she first arrived at Frances Mack, the program was only for 6th-grade students.  During her time with the program, she was able to start a fifth-grade band program for the Lexington 4 community and the program experienced tremendous growth.  Under her direction, the FMIS band program has grown from 65 members to over 200.  Participation in Solo and Ensemble has grown as well and students find success during these events.  Over the past 6 years, FMIS band students have received over 50 superior ratings and 20 excellent ratings during the solo and ensemble event.  

Due to this growth, students have more opportunities for musical growth and development on their instruments, which provides more performance opportunities for them.  This year, the first-ever sixth-grade honor band will perform at both Concert Performance Assessment and Carowinds Music in the Parks Festival. The honor band students have also performed for local nursing homes in the Columbia area.  All students in the sixth grade who earned a spot in the honor band auditioned for the group in October and met the minimum requirements to earn a seat in the band.  She has also assisted in pioneering a cadet color guard program for 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students to learn basic color guard techniques.

While at Frances Mack from 2021 until 2024, Elizabeth began an online education doctorate program through Anderson University.  Her dissertation studied a self-regulation strategy in instrumental music education by use of technology for students with learning disabilities.  She officially graduated in August 2024 with her Doctorate in Education: Curriculum Instruction Leadership.

She is a member of many professional organizations.  These organizations include NafME (National Association of Music Education), SCMEA (South Carolina Music Educators Association), SCBDA (South Carolina Band Directors Association), WBDI (Women Band Directors International), Sigma Alpha Iota (Theta Lambda chapter at Furman and currently in the alumni chapter).  She was a recipient of the Sword of Honor award from Sigma Alpha Iota due to her dedication to the chapter while at Furman.  She also serves as a member of the leadership team for FMIS and serves as the social activities chair for FMIS as well.  She performs in semi-professional ensembles across the Columbia area, including Palmetto Concert Band and Carolina Winds.  

Outside of school, Elizabeth is happily married to Andrew DeBessonet since July 2, 2022. They have two cats, which they lovingly call their children, and enjoy gaming together on multiple platforms, watching movies, and spending time with each other.  She also enjoys spending time with her friends and family.  Her hobbies also include painting, crafting, cross-stitching, and journaling.