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The Indiana Music Educators Association has named Highland High School band director Doug Fletcher its Outstanding Indiana Music Educator of the year among high school instructors.

Fletcher said it’s an honor to be recognized by his peers, and that he shares the award with everyone involved in the school’s band program.

“I’m just fortunate that I have students who are willing to work hard and do the things I ask,” he said. “We can all share in this award. You can’t do this activity alone; it’s too big.”

He will receive the award Friday during the Indiana Music Educators Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis.

Fletcher leads a program with about 170 students participating in marching band, two concert bands, three jazz bands, a color guard and the uniquely Highland bagpipes class.

“It wouldn’t be Highland Band without the pipes,” said Fletcher, who had no experience with the instrument before coming to the school.

A graduate of Ball State University, Fletcher has taught instrumental music for 23 years, the past 10 at Highland. He is the only director to win the Indiana State Fair Band Day competition while teaching at three different schools, and he’s tied at six for the most fair championships won by a director.

The Highland Band has won the contest five times, twice under Fletcher in 2005 and 2007.

He said all the groups in the band program teach students life lessons like responsibility and teamwork.

“The program in general has a lot of positive effects for kids,” he said. “Sometimes I say I teach people-skills through music.”

Two other Anderson music teachers, John Parshall and Susan Finger, have received the award in the past.

Finger is music teacher at East Side Middle School. Her husband, Mark, is a former band director now serving as principal at Highland.

Mark Finger said Fletcher’s award recognizes the continued quality of music education, not only at Highland, but throughout Anderson.

“It’s a real feather in our cap,” he said.