©2025 Ohio Music Education Association
Committee Updates
OCMEA UPDATE
Benjamin Low
The OCMEA State Board has been hard at work this year!
A theme for OCMEA this year was revival. The State Board and OCMEA Advisor began the new academic year with a Summer Leadership Retreat, where we redefined our goals and mission statement. At our monthly meetings, we’ve been brainstorming ways to establish our presence as a State Board and engage with individual chapters.
One of the State Board's goals for the year is to increase communication, exposure, and organization as a group. There are currently about 750 registered OCMEA members in Ohio. We have been working throughout the year to send out up-to-date information regularly and to encourage chapters to engage with each other. Thanks to the new website, our President can send broadcast emails to all OCMEA members, allowing for greater communication of what the State Board is working on and how members can get involved. Our Director of Communications has been working to increase our social media presence and get our new website up and running, both of which contain up-to-date information from the State Board.
To increase our organization as a group, we've created a way for chapters to register with the State Board. This registration allows us to keep a current roster of active chapters at colleges and universities across the state. It also collects vital information (meeting dates and times, chapter executive board information, etc.) for being in conversation with chapters about how the State Board can best support them.
This fall, the OCMEA Fall Conference was held at Capital University at the beginning of November. We hosted Joe Thrower, former Choir Director at Reynoldsburg High School, and Jason Graham, band director at Grove City High School, for sessions on adjudicated events. Jessica Moore, music teacher at Covington Exempted Village Schools, and Scottie Moore, band director at Garfield Middle School in the Hamilton City School District, presented realistic tips for maintaining a music program through recruiting, curriculum, and assessment. OMEA President, Brian Stevens, closed out the conference, reminding us all of the importance of our professions.
OCMEA was also active at the Professional Development Conference! Our All-Chapter Meeting and All-Chapter Breakfast Forum were opportunities for members to connect, share resources and ideas, and exchange tips and tricks for success in collegiate music education programs. Our booth was staffed by State Officers and Chapter Presidents throughout the open hours, engaging with OMEA and OCMEA members from across the state!
Last June, a number of OCMEA members attended the NAfME Collegiate Leadership and Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C., which focused on the ways college students can get involved in advocating for music in schools. The State Board has begun talking about how to make advocacy a pillar of the work we do, striving to make collegiate voices heard at the state and political level. Thanks to Danielle Shaub, OMEA Advocacy Chair, for engaging with the State Board on the best way to put an advocacy event together.
If you are interested in getting involved with OCMEA, please contact the State Board, who can connect you with local chapters! The State Board is excited for the rest of this year and hopes that everyone has a great spring semester!
Benjamin Low is a junior at The College of Wooster, majoring in Music Education. Originally from Yorktown Heights, NY, he enjoys hiking, reading, and playing piano. He works as a choral accompanist for local school districts, sings in the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and serves as President of the OCMEA State Board and of Wooster’s OCMEA chapter.