with a supporting board; the other is a weak musical director and a strong board calling the shots." Not content with assuming the role of a weak musical director, May would form a competing orchestra with former FSYO board members and supporters. Though this period marked a fractious time for the youth orchestra movement in Central Florida, with some patrons claiming there were not enough students, venues, or funding to support another youth orchestra in the Orlando area, May remained undaunted and would answer these concerns with his familiar humor and a prophetic movie quote: "If you build it, they will come." May founded the Florida Young Artists Orchestra in 1998 in Orlando. May's leadership helped oversee its growth into five separate orchestras composed of about 200 students (ages 6–22) from several Central Florida counties. He was also the founder and director of the strings program at Park Maitland School in Maitland, Florida and Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park, Florida, where he was also the composition teacher. What began as a strings program started by May in 1994 would become the Central Florida Youth Orchestra in 2001, which met at Lake-Sumter Community College in Leesburg; May served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the group of young musicians aged 6–19 spanning beginner, intermediate, and advanced ability. In just a few years the orchestra would grow to five groups and increasingly become known for its inclusiveness, as no student was denied the opportunity to learn music, as well as May's relentless efforts to raise awareness about the value of an orchestral education to children of the Central Florida community. As dedicated member of the Central Florida community, May devoted a great deal of his time bringing music to those that might not otherwise have the opportunity. Like he did in Lake County, May would form an orchestral program in Flagler County where none had existed previously. Beginning in 2001 as a small strings program of a dozen musicians known as the Flagler Symphonic Society, with the help of Flagler County school system the program grew in 2005 into the Flagler Youth Orchestra of Palm Coast, Florida. May served as Artistic Director of the after-school music-education program, which was available free of charge to all Flagler County public, private and home-schooled students. May would lead 125 students in the first year and the program would quickly grow to become the