2024 Area 10 Board of Directors Elections

Please read before opening the ballot:

  • You will need your 6-digit HMA Membership number to vote.
  • Your HMA number will only be used to verify eligibility.  It will NOT be associated with your name.
  • You may cast one vote for Area 10 Chair-Elect and one vote for Secretary.
  • People with multiple full, student, or retired memberships can vote once for each unique membership number.
  • A voter is not required to cast a vote for any position.  If a voter selects “Write-In,” a write-in box will appear.
  • Votes cast between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15 will be valid.

Read about the candidates below.

 

Click to Vote  Voting will open at 12:01 a.m. PDT on August 15th and will close at 11:59 p.m. on September 15th.

Chair-Elect

Corbin Rasmussen

Corbin Rasmussen

Corbin Rasmussen is the choir and handbell director at Rigby High School in Rigby, Idaho. Corbin started ringing bells in 2015 after discovering a 3-octave set of handbells at the school where he teaches. Shortly thereafter, he and his wife were invited to the first-ever Snake River handbell conference where they both fell in love with ringing. He has since started 2 handbell choirs that meet year-round at Rigby High School. Corbin also spent a year as the director of the Wesley handbell choir for Trinity United Methodist Church of Idaho Falls.
Corbin has been a guest choral conductor/clinician both locally and abroad. He has conducted choirs and performed in choirs all over the country and abroad with performances in Seattle, WA, Anaheim, CA, New York City, NY, Orlando, FL, Beijing, China, Accra & Kumasi in Ghana, and most recently in Ensenada, Mexico. Since 2014 he has served as the Artistic Director for the Eastern Idaho Chorale, an adult community choir based in Idaho Falls. He and his wife just started a community youth choir called the East Idaho Youth Chorus for children aged 8 – 14.
He is a regular attendee to the Handbell National Seminar and takes his students to participate in Distinctly Teen every summer. He currently serves as the Area 10 Idaho Chair and has loved working with the Area 10 board. He is excited for the opportunity to serve as Area 10 chair-elect.
Corbin received his bachelor’s degree in music education from BYU-Idaho. When he isn’t conducting, performing, or teaching, he enjoys playing and expanding his collection of board games, and spending time with his wife and four children.

 

Secretary

Debra Pankaskie

Debra Pankaskie

Since her introduction to handbells in the mid-late 70’s, Debra has performed with various handbell choirs; been a member of a handbell trio;
has done some directing and even has a published trio arrangement.  She remembers attending Area 10 and National Handbell Festivals during the 1990’s.

Debra works to keep up with what is happening in the handbell world by viewing virtual workshops and attending ringing opportunities like Coppers Classic
and Distinctly Bronze West. Currently she rings with a local church handbell choir, plays with the local community band as a percussionist and is a pianist
for a local church.

During her working career (as a piano teacher) Debra worked as a secretary, first for an attorney and later for a church.   She has also been the board
secretary for other organizations that she has been a part of.

Debra’s hobbies include traveling with her husband and fur-baby, e-biking, and various forms of crafting.

While learning more about what Area 10 does ‘behind the scenes’, serving on the board of an organization that views handbell ensembles as a valuable
musical learning experience is something she would be honored to do.

Sharon Ross

Sharon Ross

Sharon Ross, who resides in Portland, Oregon, commenced her bell ringing journey in the mid-80s instructed by Shosh Meyer at St. Matthew Lutheran
Church in Beaverton. She has been an active member of Pacific Ringers since 2014 and has a long-standing musical background as an oboe and
English horn player with the Beaverton Symphony. Presently, she is part of an ensemble at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland. She has
participated in Distinctly Bronze West, Classic Bronze in Alberta and other local events including Coppers Classic and Sequoia Summit in Ashland.
The art of bell ringing holds a special place in Sharon’s heart due to the meaningful relationships it fosters and the unique bond required among
13 individuals to play a single instrument. For Sharon, music is not only enjoyable but is at its best when shared, and she finds great joy in creating
harmonious melodies with the bells.

Having recently retired from a career in healthcare as an occupational therapist, Sharon joined the organizational team for Coppers Classic 2024 in
Portland Oregon, directed by Ellie Hodder. Working with the Area 10 board would offer more opportunity to meet bell enthusiasts.