On Saturday, September 15, 1979, Jan “JD” Berkeley stepped onto the field of the Rose Bowl for her first halftime show…and fell in love with performing.  Beginning with tall flags and majorette at John Muir High School, JD marched in three Rose Bowl Parades prior to attending the University of Southern California, where she joined the Trojan Marching Band as an SC Silk.  Her four years of football rallies, halftime shows, parades and bowl games also included two very unique opportunities: on-field marching instructing and performing at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the 1986 Rededication of the Statue of Liberty Celebration. 

After college, JD joined Dance Magique’s adult tap, jazz and Polynesian dance classes, performing three times a year.  The group also danced at luaus and parades.  She later returned to USC in a dual role: teaching assistant for the SC Silks currently in the marching band, and acting as liaison/instructor for the Alumni Silks, which perform yearly at USC’S Homecoming game, and are featured every five years at halftime.

Following her TA job, JD joined the color guard of So Cal Dream, the first Senior Drum and Bugle Corp in Southern California.  A member for three years, she also learned rifle and saber work on the field.  As if color guard and dance were not enough, she joined the JMADA, her high school alumni drum corp., first as a cymbals player and later on tenor drum, learning her first instrument.  She currently performs with the group in parades and standstill exhibitions.  The OLE SKOOL CREW fulfilled yet another desire: to perform dance at the Staples Center.

JD’S life isn’t just performing.  Her degree in engineering from USC led to a career at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena for the last 20 years.  She is currently supporting the Cassini Mission to Saturn as a Lead Engineer.  Past job assignments include development, test, launch and operations on the Galileo and Deep Space 1 missions.