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The month of May can be a nostalgic time when you suddenly look at your child and realize how much they have grown and matured over the past school year. During the April Solo Recital, it was inspiring to hear the performances, and take notice of just how far each child had progressed this year. As Suzuki parents, we notice the little things -- the improvements in posture, the beautiful tone of every note, the musical phrasing and dynamics, and we realize the hard work it took to get there. We appreciate the many little small steps that add up to amazing progress over time.
As an Academy, we also reflect back at this year, and recognize the many small steps the organization has taken to make a positive impact. Building on collaborative partnerships, we had variety of wonderful concert experiences with Suzuki Columbus, IndyBaroque, and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Our Board of Directors continues to thrive, adding a new member, and renewing the terms of many leaders who serve the ISA with dedication. We invested in the growth of the Academy by expanding our studio spaces into the Lower Level, striving to increase the number of students we can serve. With your generous support, the ISA continues to prioritize the development of our most valuable resource -- our amazing faculty -- and supports their Summer Teacher Training. It is a genuine treasure to have a fantastic team of faculty to work toward our vision of helping every child reach their potential through excellence in music. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with your child and family, and look forward to a wonderful Summer and a great 2019 - 2020.
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 At just 8 years old, Yasseen practices Judo, is an accomplished pianist, and, most recently, an app developer. His parents enrolled him in the Indianapolis Suzuki Academy (ISA) Piano Program when he was three years old because they believed it would put him on a path to develop traits of discipline, consistency, patience, and hard work. His parents are convinced that time spent with ISA has instilled in Yasseen not only broad, life-long qualities such as a love of music, the importance of hard work and patience, but also more basic, practical skills, like how to record the audio for an app. Yasseen's love of music eventually led him to a love of math. His love for math then developed into an interest in coding. Yasseen wanted to develop a fun way for players to challenge one another in a number guessing game. Together with his father, Yasseen developed the app Versus: The Number Guessing Challenge. After they submitted the app to the Apple's App Store, Apple’s Editor contacted Yasseen to feature Versus on the “Today” tab of the App Store. On average, only one out of several thousand developers get to be featured in the App Store. Yasseen’s remarkable achievement means millions of people worldwide would see his app. Yasseen told us about his love for coding and his journey into app building.  What inspired you to create the app? One night my father and I were debating the fastest way to find a number between 1 and 1,000. That led to the idea of creating the Versus game. I really wanted to create an app because it’s more interactive and it allows you to play either against your friends or your device. What is your goal for users downloading the app? My goal is for users to have fun, but most importantly to inspire young developers to follow their dreams. I want to give them hope that if I can do it, they can as well. Do you plan on creating more apps in the future and, if so, what kind? Yes! I'm planning on creating more game-related apps that would be fun for car trips. All kids get bored in the car. As you can see, Yasseen’s development career has barely begun. Through his daily Suzuki routine he has not only sharpened his problem solving skills, he has also gained the patience and confidence to follow his dreams. Yasseen hopes one day to be a computer engineer in the medical field. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for him! 
 The ISA Board of Directors welcomes Angela Della Rocco. Angela serves as counsel in Ice Miller’s Litigation Practice. Parent to ISA piano student, Summer, Angela is committed to the ISA mission and looks forward to helping ISA build on strategic planning into the future. She brings a wealth of experience in organizing projects with lots of moving parts, and hopes to help increase ISA's visibility in the community
The Board of Directors is happy to report back the results of this effort, and the ways in which the many generous gifts will advance our growth and help us reach our goal to serve 400 students by 2020. As of January 15, 2019, the innovation fund raised $9,605! The Board of Directors has allocated these funds to the following priorities:
 The ISA is pleased to welcome Ruth Cutcher, Suzuki Guitar and Early Childhood teacher, to our Faculty. Ms. Ruth will begin teaching with the ISA in January 2019, and we are thrilled to add Suzuki Guitar to our programs.
Ruth Cutcher received her BA in Music with an emphasis in classical guitar from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Ms. Cutcher did graduate work at Colorado State University in Music Therapy, Music History and Women’s Studies. Ms. Cutcher is a member Suzuki Association of the Americas, The Guitar Foundation of the Americas, and the Suzuki Association of Indiana. Ms. Cutcher is currently pursuing a Master’s in Divinity from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. Ms. Ruth has completed Suzuki Guitar teacher training Units 1 - 6 and Early Childhood training Stages 1 and 2.  We are excited to share with you that after much careful consideration, the Board of Directors has decided to expand the ISA studios into the lower floor of 3959 Central, giving us an additional 1,200 square feet of space. The Board and Faculty will be working hard to assess how we can best use this new space and our existing first floor space to help the ISA grow to serve even more students.
This past year, the board and staff have carefully analyzed ISA’s current and future needs, and looked extensively at many potential studio locations. While we realize that there are some aspects of our location that are not ideal (such as street parking), this is an opportunity for growth that will also allow ISA to be good fiscal stewards into the future. We will spend the next several weeks planning, and will begin using the space in January 2019. Thank you for your past and ongoing support of the ISA’s work to nurture nurture beautiful character in every child through excellence in music. Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2018 Review Challenge! Many of you listened to each repetition or gave in support of each student raising a total of $5,453! Students tallied over 20,180 points moving them toward their goal of mastery and musical excellence, while developing admirable character.
Donations will go to fund studio soundproofing improvements and help the ISA continue to grow -- to reach our goal of serving 400 students by 2020. We appreciate everyone’s support and participation!  ISA students from the Book 1 Violin class had the opportunity to perform at the Christel Dehaan Fine Arts Center at the University of Indianapolis West Meets East concert on Sunday, October 28.
Pictured here with members of the Indianapolis Quartet Zach DePue, Michael Strauss and ISA Board Member Austin Huntington are violinists Everyln M, Ethyn K, Lorelei F and Perpeutua M. Bravo on a fine performance and thank you for representing the ISA in our community!  Show your ISA pride with Spirit Wear! The online store will be open October 1 - 31, and orders will be filled within two weeks of the deadline. Makes a great holiday or birthday gift for your Suzuki student. Youth and Adult apparel are available for purchase.
 Music played by youngsters is a beautiful sound, unless you are trying to get your child to focus their attention while loud noises are floating in from another room. We recognize the need for improved soundproofing at our studios and have taken one large step to helping contain these extraneous sounds. This summer, contractors laid sound attenuating insulation across the entirety of the ceiling, and all the HVAC openings have been fitted with acoustical boots. The Board of Directors has invested in this significant soundproofing, and we have already noticed a big improvement. We plan to evaluate the need for additional soundproofing and studio improvements and continue to invest in the quality of our studio space into the future.
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