Welcome

Dear Indiana ASTA Members,

It is my pleasure and honor to begin serving you as the Indiana ASTA Chapter President beginning May 15, 2008. Our chapter offers many wonderful opportunities for our members and their students and I am hopeful of adding to the current programs. My hope is that I can make contact with all of you in some form to learn about your needs and interests. I also plan to reach out to the string teachers in Indiana who are non-members. I met an orchestra director with a band background at IMEA last January who knew nothing about ASTA and its resources. She was very interested in joining and gaining more knowledge to help her string teaching. I encourage you to talk with your colleagues about their ASTA membership and the benefits it has to offer.

Finally, I would like to extend a much deserved thank you to our Past-President, Kathy Schemine. One of Kathy’s tasks was to incorporate the Indiana ASTA chapter after ASTA split with NSOA a few years ago. The incorporation process was difficult and time consuming. Despite many obstacles, our state chapter was one of the first to complete the process. Kathy has also taken steps to involve more private teachers in our chapter and has begun the process of organizing the Certificate Program for Strings to be part of Indiana ASTA chapter offerings. Kathy, we appreciate your service and we are glad you will continue to be an active member of Indiana ASTA.

As always, keep yourself posted with ASTA’s online resources. Our national ASTA site is found at www.astaweb.com and the Indiana ASTA page is available at http://inasta.org. Also, please telephone or email me with questions, ideas, and concerns. I look forward to a fruitful collaboration with Indiana ASTA members.

Sincerely,
Elisabeth Ohly-Davis
President, Indiana ASTA Chapter