Front Ensemble Staff
Mike Ellis : Front Co-Coordinator
Mike Ellis is a graduate student at Butler University pursuing his masters in Percussion Performance. An active educator, Mike currently teaches at Fishers High School, North Central High School, New Palestine High School, and lessons in the Carmel/Clay district. Mike is an alumnus of the Madison Scouts, the Cavaliers, Veritas, Legacy Independent, and Rhythm X.
Outside of the marching arts, Mike has performed in the Butler Symphony Orchestra as both principal and soloist, and won the 2020-2021 Butler University Concerto Competition with Eric Ewazen's Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra.
isaac merriweather : Front Co-Coordinator
Isaac Merriweather (Ike) is a percussion instructor born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. As a performer, Isaac was the timpanist for the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps (2017-2019), Legacy Indoor Percussion (2017-2018), and Veritas Indoor Percussion (2019-2020).
Isaac has worked with the Chapel Hill 7th and 8th Grade Center as a percussion instructor and has worked with multiple high schools as a front ensemble technician including Ben Davis High School (2017-2018), Pike High School (2021), and currently works at Hamilton South-Eastern High School (2019-Present). Isaac is a worship service coordinator for Chapel Rock Christian Church (2018-Present), and has been the drummer for multiple worship bands including The Porch Live Indianapolis, and Revision. Isaac is also a brand ambassador for Everybody’s Somebody.
This will be Isaac’s third season as an instructor with the ensemble!
donovan eidenback : Front Staff
Donovan Eidenback is a percussion instructor from Indianapolis, Indiana. He is studying at Indiana University Bloomington studying Game Design and Music Composition.
As a performer, Donovan marched with The Madison Scouts (2019) and Veritas Indoor Percussion (2019 - 2022).
Donovan has worked with Pike High School (2020-2021), and now currently teaches at his Alma Mater Fishers High School.
This will be Donovan’s second season working with Veritas’ front ensemble.
Emily Owen : Front Staff
Emily Owen is an Indianapolis native who is excited to return to the front ensemble staff at Veritas. Her marching experience includes three WGI seasons with Legacy Indoor Percussion and two DCI seasons with the Sacramento Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps. Over the years, she has taught various front ensembles in the greater Indianapolis area, including Plainfield High School and Decatur Central High School.
Emily currently works at the Indiana University Genetics Biobank while she pursues her Masters Degree in Applied Data Science. She enjoys playing video games and spoiling her pets, Appa and Jelly Bean.
Jesse Mack : Front Staff
Jesse Mack is currently working as a percussion instructor and arranger for Lawrence Township in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the past, he has worked for the Greenfield Central Marching band and Indoor Percussion Ensemble in Greenfield, Indiana and the Union High School marching band and Indoor Drumline in Tulsa, Oklahoma as instructional staff. Jesse has been a consulting clinician for Blue Springs High School in Blue Springs, Missouri since 2017. He has been writing and arranging for Resonant Music Design (Dayton, Ohio) since 2019
Jesse has several years of world class performance experience with ensembles such as the Madison Scouts, the Colts, the Bluecoats and Rhythm X (2014-2017). He graduated from Ball State University in 2018 with a degree in Music Education-Instrumental and General. During his time there, he performed with the Ball State Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Band, and Percussion Ensemble.