Music For All’s Summer Symposium brings together high schoolers from across the nation to make music while building a sense of community and teaching leadership.

The Summer Symposium, a summer band and orchestra camp for high school students, runs from June 22 to June 27 at Ball State and is in its 40^th year. There are seven tracks for the students to choose from: color guard, concert band, drum major institute, jazz band, marching band, orchestra and percussion.

"Being a part of music is more than just the notes on the page, it’s really about the community of music and how music really connects people in a unique way, because everyone’s so passionate about the same thing,” Reinhardt said. “Sometimes the best leaders are the listeners in the group who facilitate the goal at hand.”

Reinhardt said almost 1,400 students signed up to attend the camp, and more than half of those students are returning campers. High school musicians come from all over the world. Reinhardt said the students describe the camp as a one of kind experience, and encourage their fellow musicians to attend.

This year is the fourth year that the camp has been held on Ball State’s campus. Reinhardt said both Ball State’s community and campus make the camp work well.

“They’re always willing to help us, and really help meet our needs of the space size we need… it’s a very welcoming environment and safe environment,” Reinhardt said. “Everything’s very walkable so we don’t have kids getting lost or have to worry about wondering where kids are… it’s easy for them to learn the campus so they feel comfortable here.”

Laura Blake, events manager for Music for All, said she likes having the camp at Ball State. She described the campus as "impeccable" and said the facilities and support Ball State offers make it a good location for the Summer Symposium.

“The biggest thing I think for us is, we’re cumbersome, we have a lot of needs, we have a lot of students and faculty on campus and we take up a lot of space, so for any university to be able to accommodate us is really special," Blake said. "It’s a lot of work on their part too, and Ball State has certainly helped us grow and been there to support us as our camp has grown.”

The different music divisions are occupying buildings all over campus, including the athletic facilities, teacher’s college and several of the dorms. The camp's 23 staff members are staying in Park Hall, while the students are spread throughout DeHority Complex, Kinghorn Hall and Noyer Complex.

Blake said what sets Summer Symposium apart from other music camps is that music isn’t the only focus. She said the camp counselors encourage students to overcome shyness and interact with musicians from other high schools. 

“One of the biggest things that we push as a curriculum is leadership, and every track has leadership sessions and opportunities, and they’re constantly talking about how they can take all the things that they’re learning back to their band program,” Blake said. “That’s, I think, really unique to our organization, is trying to tie all of those things together.”

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