ONU Students: Amari Junkins, Aaron Thomas, Elizabeth Minturn, Kyler Lampton, Ian Strange; NAfME Collegiate Co-Chair: Katrina Cox (PHOTO CREDIT: Amari Junkins)
Editor’s Note: This article is submitted by Amari Junkins, a senior double-majoring in Music Education and Music Composition. She is the President of Ohio Northern’s chapter of the Ohio Collegiate Music Education Organization.
“Last Year was the Best Year Ever!” This is a sentiment commonly echoed by the members of Ohio Northern’s chapter of the Ohio Collegiate Music Education Association (OCMEA). COVID caused significant setbacks in the inner workings of this organization at the collegiate level, at the state level, and even at the national level. Lines of communication were lost everywhere, and the unwritten common practice of how to even run OCMEA was lost as well. Rebuilding took a few years, but ONU’s chapter of OCMEA reached greater heights than ever before in 2024, leading to a national award, attendance at the national conference with the nation’s brightest music educators, and a lasting impact on the surrounding community.
It all started with the interviewing event held Spring 2023. Each OCMEA member received a free interview from a board of music education professionals, in the hopes of preparing our members for the real world. Next were the guest speakers: one at every meeting (16 total meetings) of the year. These guest speakers addressed a variety of specialties, and they provided both networking opportunities and engaging, hands-on sessions to learn about the field of music education. Guest speaker topics included Instrument Repair, Interviewing Etiquette, Classroom Management, Music Technology, and much more.
Following the guest speakers, OCMEA held a few back-to-back teaching opportunities for its members. These included a runout to a public school in Toledo, where members taught students with varying disabilities how to play the steel drums, followed by a community performance. The community performance allowed them to play side-by-side with these students for everyone to enjoy! The next teaching opportunity was the Marion Band Day. Marion Local Schools spent a day out of school at ONU… with our music majors! ONU students were able to split up and help small groups with their band music. These examples are a fraction of the newest initiatives, events, and opportunities this organization continues to come up with.
All of these amazing opportunities and professional events led to a National Award for the ONU OCMEA Chapter: 2024 NAfME (National Association for Music Education) Collegiate Chapter of Excellence in Professional Development. As Chapter President, I also won a personal award for my service to the NAfME/OCMEA organization on a wider level, since I serve both the OCMEA State Board as Director of Communications in addition to ONU’s chapter. ONU’s OCMEA Chapter was able to receive full funding through the university to attend the National Music Education Conference to receive these awards in person! At this National Conference, OCMEA members were able to gain personal connections with the leaders in music education across both Ohio and the United States. One connection made at this conference with the current President of OMEA, Brian Stevens, led to Brian coming to speak to the entire Music Department on October 25th, 2024!
As OCMEA kicks off this new year of meetings and events, it’s important to reflect back on our successes and failures to continue to improve as an organization. We hope to see great things from the organization, and hopefully a 2025 National Award! Not only that, OCMEA will continue to benefit the surrounding musical community and its chapter members in the connections we make outside of the ONU. Instead of “Last Year was the Best Year Ever!”, let’s hear “Let’s Make This the Best Year Ever!”