This school year, we started off with new faculty in the Middle School band staff. After the departures of Paige Barber and Zac Ferguson-Cogdill last year, Westminster found great new leaders Megan Whitty and Jack Walker. 

Megan Whitty, Middle School Band Director

Whitty specializes in woodwinds, such as flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, and alto saxophone. Originally from San Antonio, Texas, she taught at Jackson Middle School for nine years and Alamo Heights Junior School for another two years. Her husband’s promotion brought them to Atlanta, also bringing her close to siblings and family. 

Whitty first heard about Westminster through a former band director and friend of her father’s, David Gregory. Gregory strongly encouraged Whitty to apply to Westminster. Shortly after, she connected with Upper School Band Director Will Pitts and soon joined the school community. 

Compared to Whitty’s previous jobs, her favorite element of our school is the warm community. “The Westminster community is very welcoming,” she says. “The environment is very accepting, and it was refreshing to have everyone care and even know my name almost immediately.”  

As a pet owner of four cats and two dogs, Whitty is often busy walking and taking care of them. She’s also a huge sports fan, always watching Florida Gators football and her husband playing soccer. Despite her busy schedule, she still gets up every morning looking forward to teaching and making a difference for the kids. 

Whitty immensely enjoys getting to know students and loves sharing a homeroom with coach Travis Rutkiewicz; she’s always excited to meet students who are not in band. In the future, Whitty will consider helping with clubs and other extra-curricular activities. 

Jack Walker, Middle School Band Director

Walker teaches all instruments, but he specializes in saxophone as his primary instrument. However, during sectionals, he teaches the clarinet section as his secondary instrument. 

Walker first picked up the saxophone in fifth grade. At first, he only took private lessons and did not join the band until sixth grade. From there, he took his passion and played all throughout middle school, high school, and college, leading him to where he is now.

After being born and raised in Washington State, Walker and his family moved to Georgia. Soon, his family, including his older brother and younger sister, moved back to Washington, leaving him in Atlanta. Walker now lives alone and does not have any pets, claiming that he’s not much of an animal person. However, the Westminster community serves as a new welcoming family for Walker. 

Walker found his way to Westminster through a call from the previous saxophone teacher in the Upper School. He already knew some students from working part-time last year. He had also known Will Pitts, Director of Bands, since high school. “I already had my foot in the door a little bit with the relationship with the kids,” he says. “Everybody’s been fairly resilient and very receptive to different things.” 

Walker taught at Pace Academy from 2015-2019, but since then, he’s been a freelancer, filling his time with performing in Atlanta, bouncing around to different band director jobs, and playing gigs. Compared to his directing experience at Pace, he claims that Westminster is much bigger, both in student population and the campus. “The kids here also, I feel, are maybe a little more receptive to things than they might have been at Pace,” he says.