ORCHESTRA - Bill Slechta

Bill Slechta

Bill grew up in the Philadelphia, PA area and completed his undergraduate degree from The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. He later served as a graduate teaching assistant while earning his Master of Music degree from Kansas State University. Over the course of his career, Bill has been an orchestra teacher at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in various states including North Carolina for 14 years prior to coming to MGMS. In addition to teaching orchestra, Bill has taught other music courses and math classes along with serving in leadership positions in his schools. During the 2013 - 2014 school year, Bill was the Teacher of the Year at West Cary Middle School and a semi-finalist for the Wake County Public School System's Teacher of the Year. Bill also earned an Employee Excellence Award in 2021 from the Wake County Schools.

Outside of the public school classroom, Bill worked as an orchestra instructor at The College of Wooster's week-long Music Camp for 18 years ending in 2019. He served NC-ASTA (North Carolina's Chapter of the American String Teachers Association) as Membership Chair prior to his six-year commitment as President-Elect, President, and Past-President which ended in the spring of 2020. Bill also was a member of ASTA’s national Membership Committee from 2011 - 2014. A violist and violinist, Bill performed with the Chapel Hill Philharmonia and was co-music librarian for over 10 years.

Bill and his wife moved to the Columbia area in the summer of 2022 where his wife is employed by the University of South Carolina. He teaches orchestra and sponsors the before school Chamber Strings program and is enjoying working with the Meadow Glen community. He was the MGMS Teacher of the Year for the 2024 - 2025 school year. Outside of school, Bill plays the viola (and violin) in the Lake Murray Symphony Orchestra (LMSO) and the Palmetto Chamber Orchestra (PCO), serves as Vice President of the LMSO Board of Directors, is the Membership Chair for the SC Chapter of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), and is on the national Mentor Program Committee for ASTA.