Shepard welcomes alum as new band director

By Kelly White

Shepard High School welcomed on one of its own to fill the shoes of former band director, Christopher Pitlik.

Kenneth George, a 2001 Shepard High School graduate, has been named the new Director of Bands at the high school, 13049 S. Ridgeland Ave., Palos Heights, upon the retirement of longtime director, Pitlik He is the seventh director in the schools 48-year history.

“I am excited to continue the great traditions and successes of the program to which I have been a part of since 1997,” George, of Joliet, said. “I would like to thank Chris Pitlik for his countless 33 years, of dedicated service to the musicians of Alan B. Shepard High School.

George, who obtained a Bachelor’s of Music Education in 2005 from Indiana State University and went on to earn a Master’s of Music Education and Instrumental Conducting in 2012 from Northwestern University, worked alongside Pitlik for 17 years as a marching band assistant.

He previously worked as the band director at Indiana Elementary School, which is part of Matteson School District 162 in Park Forest.

He held the position for 17 years and directed beginning band through sixth-grade band.

“I am very much excited to enter this new phase of my career and see what new challenges and successes await,” George said. “It was a hard decision to leave my current position of 17 years, a program that I started from literally nothing but 12 students and slowly built to a successful highly functioning intermediate band program with students continuing in music through college and beyond.”

While George will miss his former colleagues and administrators, he is also very excited to start working with new colleagues and administrators at Shepard and would like to thank his wife, Lindsay, and daughters, Abigail and Annabel, for their support and encouragement in his new career path.

“Band was where my home was while Shepard,” he said. “I was pretty good at it and enjoyed the people, the events, and the music. I wanted to learn how to give those same experiences to future generations so I decided to study Music Education.”

George said his previous directors, Gordon Wallin and Brent Burger at Worth Junior High School and Pitlik at Shepard all had major influences on this decision.

“I was very fortunate to have strong role models and mentors to follow and lean on,” George said. “Now, I get to hopefully be one of those same people to the students at Shepard.”

George said the most important part for him is being able to continue to build on the successes that Pitlik created.

Being able to provide stability during a major change to the program is also immensely important to the students and myself,” George said. “It is truly a dream come true in a sense. His influence and mentoring have changed the trajectory of hundreds of alumni over the years, myself included. As a high school senior many years ago, I received the ‘Most likely to replace Mr. Pitlik’ award, so now I can say, I made that happen.”

George plans in the immediate is to keep them moving forward during the competitive marching season coming up this fall and to then to provide as many opportunities for students to experience success as possible while keeping the enjoyment factor high. Long term is to grow the numbers of the program so more students can have the opportunity to be a part of and feel the joys music can bring.

“I am most looking forward to the new challenges that high school band brings and creating success from those challenges,” George said. “I am excited to work with these students on a daily basis and help them along their high school journey. I am looking forward also seeing how the program evolves over time and what new traditions the students bring to the band, after-all I am their director but it is their band.”