Featured Newsletter
Dear PADESTA members and colleagues;
Welcome to the beginning of another year! I hope you had an amazing summer of refreshment
and time with family and friends. Perhaps you also spent time working on another degree, taking
additional classes, running a string camp, or doing a host of other things to further your career or
serve your students and the string community. Whatever you did the start of another school year
is here and with it comes the opportunity to influence our students, schools, and communities.
While that is exciting it can also be draining at times. I encourage you to take time for yourself
and time to be with other string orchestra colleagues to renew friendships, develop new
friendships, and learn new ways of reaching and inspiring students.
We have some very exciting things coming up this year and you should have recently received a
web blast about the upcoming Regional Workshops. We are fortunate to have an outstanding
relationship with PMEA and are able to offer professional development opportunities for our
members and non-members. Please consider attending one in your region:
Monday, October 14, 2019
o York College of Pennsylvania in partnership with PMEA District 7
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
o Montgomery County Community College in partnership with PMEA District 11
Monday, November 25, 2019
o Duquesne University in partnership with PMEA District 1
Please view the website calendar for specific information. Please also consider reaching out to
other PADESTA members, non-PADESTA members, and our studio string teachers and
encourage them to join us at one of these events. There are going to be incredible presentations
available in each region and we are excited to be able to sponsor some of these clinicians.
The ASTA Conference will be in Orlando, Florida during the first week of March, 2020. This is
a great opportunity to meet string colleagues from around the country, learn new things, and gain
some much needed Vitamin D at the end of winter. Consider joining us and keep your eyes open
for information about our Pay-It-Forward program where PADESTA provides the registration
fee for a member.
Finally, don’t forget to add the annual Membership Luncheon and Meeting at the PMEA Annual
In-Service Conference at the Kalahari Resort in the Poconos in April 2020. More information
will be available as we get closer to that date.
I wish each of you a wonderful school year and look forward to engaging with you as we move
PADESTA forward and provide exciting opportunities for each of you and your students.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey M. Tedford, D.M.A.
PADESTA President