The Music for All Summer Symposium is officially underway! We welcomed students from coast-to-coast and all walks of life to Ball State University this afternoon. For many, this is a homecoming of sorts since this is one of the few times a year educators and students from across the nation have the opportunity to get together with a powerful goal in mind: gain valuable skills and have fun while doing it!

The opening session set the stage as the remarkably talented Color Guard Division faculty’s performance lit up Emens Auditorium. This is just a glimpse of what is in store for our campers and I hope everyone enjoys seeing that performance here. Following the breathtaking performance, Eric Martin, President & CEO of Music for All, gave our campers this advice to take with them as we go into the 2019 Summer Symposium: “open your minds, open your hearts, and open your thoughts to the possibilities of what is to come this week. Take care of yourselves and take care of each other.” For anyone who has not heard Eric Martin speak, I truly wish you have the opportunity some day soon because his words and his passion for not only the Summer Symposium, but for the mission and vision of Music for All is something that is so palpable, you can’t help but let it wash over you in a wave of comfort and empowerment.

For me, this is an even bigger sense of homecoming as I help welcome campers, faculty, and staff–new and seasoned–to my alma mater. Seeing them have the opportunity to work with some of the faculty and facilities that helped shape me in to the person I am today is a feeling that cannot be unmatched. I look forward to seeing all of the positively life-changing experiences in store for these campers as they embark on a journey that is going to last so much longer than this week. Here we go!