EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Chris Beushausen, Class Of 1994

EVERGREEN PARK, IL - Southwest Michigan’s Harbor Country is a quaint and scenic area on the other side of Lake Michigan where many residents of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, Evergreen Park included, like to spend many of their summer weekends.

“I can go to the beach any day I like and sit by Lake Michigan in all seasons,” said Chris Beushausen, a 1994 alum of Evergreen Park Community High School.

Beushausen is a music teacher for New Buffalo Area Schools, a district located right in the heart of Harbor Country. Both her sons go to school in the district where she works, which she says is “the best gift I could ever have received.”

But living the dream in beautiful Harbor Country may not have been possible had it not been for Beushausen’s time at EPCHS. She says it was EPCHS music teachers Melanie Michalak and Ken Kazin, who is still the school’s band director nearly 30 years after Beushausen’s graduation, who inspired her the most.

“Coming into high school from Central Junior High School, I was driven to pursue athletic opportunities, however, Ms. Michalak noticed something about my musical skills and personally invited me to participate in the choir program, which changed my life,” Beushausen said.

Kazin also noticed her abilities, she said, and “was finally able to recruit me into the band program my junior and senior years.”

“I used to try to walk down the hall with him to talk to him about something and he would always walk so fast,” Beushausen remembers. “I would ask him to slow down and he told me - when you become a teacher you will understand why I have to walk fast. I get it now, Ken!!”

“I remember coming home from a marching band practice and two of my bandmates and I got into a car accident,” Beushausen said. “The car was totaled and all three of us were relatively ok, but none of us could march in competition the next day. After that, I had to wear some sort of cast on my arm and couldn't play, so Ken asked me to dress up as Darth Vader for our Star Show. I got to walk around the field as Vader!!!”

Beushausen said Kazin suggested she attend Elmhurst College to get a bachelor’s of music education degree. She did just that in 1998 and has worked in music education ever since, with stops at a few Illinois school districts before earning her master’s in music education at Western Michigan University.

At WMU, Beushausen traveled to Italy, Romania and Bulgaria on a world choir competition, assisted in the directing of the Gold Company II program and co-produced the university’s reputable Miller Show.

She has been with New Buffalo schools since 2005, and has created the district choir club, directed musical theatre, served as an interim middle and high school band director and implemented numerous musical activities.

“I have been affiliated with New Buffalo since the late 80s, through my family, that everyone here is like an extension of family, including the families I serve through the school district,” she said. “They have become friends. There is a whole new meaning to teaching out here as you are educating, guiding and taking care of your friends’ kids.”

On the side, Beushausen is a dedicated recreational and competitive pickleball player and is directing the musical, Matilda, at NBAS.

Still, it’s her time growing up in Evergreen Park and her high school experience at EPCHS that “was nothing short of some of the best times in my life,” she said.

“I remember an open campus during lunch where a group of us would go down 99th Street to the salad bar at Pizza Hut,” she said. “In a world without cell phones, it was a great way of breaking up the day to get some social time in.”

As a member of the Concert Choir, Madrigals and Concert Band, Beushausen was one of EPCHS’ most well-rounded students in the early 1990s. Her senior year, Beushausen represented EPCHS at the IMEA All-State Festival.

She also played softball and volleyball, leading the Mustangs softball squad coached by Marilyn Wax to an undefeated conference championship her sophomore year. She was named team MVP, earning a number of shutouts as a pitcher, and, at the time, had planned to go to college to play softball.

“However, at the start of the following season, I incurred a season ending injury that I was not able to recover from,” she said. “As devastating as that was, I poured all of my energy into music.”

Since her spring season was freed up due to the softball injury, Beushausen landed a key role as Mrs. Brice in the musical “Funny Girl,” when her love of community theatre was introduced.

“It’s interesting as I look back on my high school days, now that I am an educator, and it is so clear that the extra-curricular offerings are what make your high school experience so powerful.”