The South Side Chicago Youth Orchestra (SSCYO) is an exciting new orchestra program offered to young instrumentalists who play at least at the intermediate level. Established in 2019, the orchestra teaches developing musicians the great orchestral repertoire of the world and provides performance opportunities in some of the most magnificent settings of Chicago. It uses orchestral protocol and practice to prepare its members for high caliber success in music and other disciplines, and it instills the ancillary benefits that music instruction provides: problem solving skills, critical thinking, self-reliance, self-confidence, self-discipline, and the crystallization and pursuit of meaningful purpose.