I am extremely fortunate and grateful for the opportunity to be working in the North Penn School District! I was born and raised in Norristown, PA. My dad had a drumset in the basement, so at a very young age I started to teach myself how to play. After participating and performing in many of the ensembles my district had to offer, I went to Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA to major in chemistry and minor in music. I quickly learned that my interest was solely in music, so I changed my major and graduated in 2012 with a B.A. in Music. Immediately upon graduating, I enrolled at Eastern University to complete my Music Education Certification, which I received in December of 2015. In 2016, I started a job as a middle school General Music teacher at John B. Stetson Charter School in Philadelphia, where I remained for 4+ years until accepting the position at North Penn. At Stetson, I taught all 5th graders how to play the trumpet and all 6th graders how to play trombone. These students even had the opportunity to perform at the local elementary school they attended. I also organized a bi-annual talent show and started after school piano, trumpet, and drum clubs. In 2020, I received a Master's of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Eastern.
In addition to classroom teaching, I taught the Upper Merion High School Marching Band's percussion section from 2014-2019. In the winter of 2019, I started as a percussion instructor with North Penn's Winter Percussion program, before becoming the Percussion Caption Head of the North Penn Marching Knights in 2020. As a performer, I was a member of the Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps from 2010-2012 and have been an active member of several different bands that have played most of the major venues in the Philadelphia Area. My wife Allie is also a teacher - she teaches English at Marianna Bracetti Academy in Philadelphia.
I am so excited to be teaching band at Kulp, Hatfield, and Oak Park! Please feel free to contact me at shaykalt@npenn.org if you have any questions.