Beyond the Notes – Andrew Askounis

Andrew Askounis is a senior violinist in the Purdue Philharmonic Orchestra and Vice President of Purdue Student Government. Violin has been an important part of Andrew’s life since he began taking lessons at age 3 and continued performing in school orchestras while growing up in Houston, Texas.

When it came time for Andrew to choose a college, most of his friends were staying in Texas, but Andrew wanted to venture to a new place. Accounting and finance were his planned major focuses, but he wanted to continue performing in a high-quality orchestra. Family in the Chicago area, and a father, who is a Purdue alumnus pushed Purdue to the top of his list. He has not regretted his decision and has had the opportunity to play violin in the Purdue Philharmonic Orchestra for four years. It has been exciting for him to be part of an orchestra program which consistently competes with the top orchestras in the country—most of which are made up of music performance majors. Andrew has made many friends in the orchestra and had the opportunity to travel to Nashville, Tennessee to perform at the College Orchestra Directors Association conference, as well as part of an orchestra which won the American Prize in 2021.

Another big piece of Andrew’s Purdue experience has been Purdue Student Government. He began as a senator and ran the financial affairs committee. He was also the Press Secretary and now is the Vice President. His philosophy of student activities is to “Pile on as much as possible until you don’t really think you can handle it and then start taking things off. That’s how you learn to prioritize what you are really interested in. Even though it’s a lot to juggle, I would recommend anybody to do that. It’s really helped me feel like I had a well-rounded college experience.” Andrew’s activities have kept him quite busy during his time at Purdue. This level of activity and commitment requires high level time management skills. Andrew believes that developing those skills will be valuable to him as he transitions into his professional life.

Andrew’s father, John (1979 Davidson School of Chemical Engineering), played trumpet in various jazz ensembles. He and his friends formed the jazz/rock band, Chameleon, while students and performed at numerous dances and events. This group continues to return to Purdue annually to play music and concerts together and were chosen by the university to perform at 2023 Homecoming. Their performance was so popular that they have been invited back for Homecoming 2024. Andrew was able to attend the concert and see his dad and his friends on stage. “It’s cool seeing how committed Purdue Bands & Orchestras is to their alumni.”