History - Past Directors

The Bands of Waterford Kettering High School

HISTORY & DIRECTORS PAST AND PRESENT

The Waterford Kettering High School Band program was founded in 1962 when the school opened, and in the decades since, the Bands have enjoyed a rich history and tradition of quality ensembles and programming. Past performances include numerous invitations to Walt Disney World Florida, annual invitations to perform in the Great Pumpkin Parade at Cedar Point’s Halloweekends, performances at the America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and performances in Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, New York, Tennessee, Mackinaw City, the Michigan State Fair, and for the State Capitol in Lansing.  The WK Bands are active in MSBOA festivals for marching, concert, and jazz bands, and have a record of continued Division One ratings for the last fifteen years.  

  The Waterford Kettering HS Music Department was recently awarded the “Support Music Award” for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 by the National Association of Music Merchandisers (NAMM) and named one of the top 1% of music programs at high schools in America.

 In 2017, the Kettering Marching Captains were selected as the Grand Champion Marching Band in Detroit’s America’s Thanksgiving Parade.

The first band director at Waterford Kettering High School was Don Perrin in 1962-63.  Mr. Perrin was followed by George Fetter, who taught at Kettering for 15 successful years. Mr. Fetter went on to become Director of School Services at Marshall Music Company in Lansing. The next director of the Kettering Bands was Mr. Terry Odelli from 1977-1993. Mr. Odelli retired from the Waterford School District in June of 2002, after 31 years in the District and 38 years overall in education. Mr. Jamie McLeod was the Director of Bands at Kettering from 1993 to 1996. Mr. McLeod is now lives in Big Rapids, MI. Ms. Molly Mollison (now Wyber) was the Kettering Director of Bands from 1996 to 2001. She retired from teaching middle school strings/orchestra at Mason Middle School in Waterford in June, 2022. Mr. R. Scott Adkins became the sixth Director of Bands at Kettering in the summer of 2001 and remained until the spring of 2023. Ms. Laura Zilhaver was named Kettering's seventh Director of Bands starting in the summer of 2023.