Jack Harnish, a senior at Lampeter-Strasburg High School (LSHS), is one of 25 students from Pennsylvania who was selected to attend the 2022 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) Future Music Educators Honors Symposium. This program is for high school seniors who have been accepted at a college or university to study music education. To qualify, students must be in high academic standing, participate in music activities and courses, be active in the community, and possess leadership experience.

At the symposium, Harnish was given the opportunity to attend seminars related to the topic of music education and make connections with college music education majors and professional educators. The symposium ran concurrently with the 2022 PMEA All-State Festival, which took place at the Kalahari Resort & Conference Center in the Poconos from April 6 to 9.

After graduating from LSHS, Harnish plans to attend West Chester University in the fall, where he will study music education. He said he would be happy teaching any grade level but would prefer to instruct high school students. His sister, who is six years older than him, played the violin, so he had some exposure to string instruments before picking up the bass as a fourth-grader. He started taking private lessons in seventh grade, and at a concert in eighth grade, he performed a solo with the orchestra accompanying him.

"I kind of wish I could do that solo again because I could play it a lot better now, but I'm still really grateful that I had the opportunity to play in front of a big audience like that," explained Harnish.

Harnish is involved in many extracurricular activities. He is the vice president of Tri-M Music Honor Society and a member of the esports team. He sings in chorus, plays tennis, and participates in the jazz ensemble, pit orchestra, and orchestra. For the past two years, he's been in marching band. Harnish said that he wishes he could have spent more time with the marching band, but he hopes to join West Chester's marching band as a college student.

Over the years, Harnish has played in several orchestra ensembles outside of school and noted that Brian Norcross, the director of Allegro Orchestra Lancaster, is one of his inspirations to pursue music education in addition to LSHS band director Larry Royer and LSHS orchestra director Robert Shaubach.

PMEA is a statewide nonprofit organization of over 4,000 members dedicated to promoting the musical development of all Pennsylvanians. To learn more about PMEA, visit http://www.pmea.net.