Sophomore and Indy native Tim Reed has always known that he wanted to be a music teacher. An active participant in his high school’s show choir, Butler first appeared on his radar when he met a representative from the Jordan College of the Arts (JCA) School of Music at a show choir competition. Then, during his junior year of high school, his school hired Butler grad Kelly Cassady ’13 as the new choir teacher, who also encouraged Reed to learn more about the University.

“My high school choir teacher raved about the School of Music and about the community at Butler,” he says. “She knew I was interested in Music Education, which was also her major, so she highly recommended that I learn more about Butler and seriously consider pursuing the program.”

Reed did just that. He spent hours perfecting his audition repertoire for admission into JCA, and was ecstatic when he learned of his acceptance, both to the University and into the Music Education program. The only thing holding him back from accepting his offer of admission was the cost of tuition.

“Coming to Butler was my dream, but financially, my family and I were questioning whether it was really the best choice for me.”

Thankfully, Reed was a contender for the Butler Tuition Guarantee, a program that provides full-tuition scholarships each academic year for students in Marion County who show significant financial need. He interviewed for the scholarship during Butler Blue Scholars’ Day, and found out a few weeks later that he received it.

“Finding out that I received the scholarship was one of the best days ever,” he says. “Knowing that all of my tuition would be paid for was such a huge gift. If I hadn’t received the scholarship, I wouldn’t have come to Butler.”

He started college in fall 2020, and while he acknowledges that COVID-19 put a bit of a damper on his first year, he says that he and his fellow first-year students forged an even stronger bond due to the challenges the pandemic presented.

In addition to his Music Education coursework, Reed is also the President of Butler’s chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, where he leads the group in planning meetings and professional development opportunities for his fellow Music Education majors. He also shadowed the Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, a premiere children’s choir that rehearses on Butler’s campus, and works part time at the Health and Recreation Complex.

After graduation, Reed hopes to be both a high school choir teacher and direct a show choir. He also has ambitions to earn both his master’s degree and his doctorate in Music Education so he can one day teach at the University level, preparing the next generation of music educators.